The myth that the mobile towers’ radiations are harmful for the users has been around since the mobile telephony went official. Not just harmful but its proponents claim that too much of exposure could result in permanent damage too with lasting health effects. However, as with most such theories, people believe in anything without even doing scientific check. Yes as much as you might want to believe it, there have been multiple scientific studies around the same, and all of them have openly rejected such claims.
Let’s just first understand how this myth might have started. There’s no denying that mobile towers have radiations – that’s how we’re able to get mobile signals to make a call, send a message, and access the internet, among other things. To measure radiation, scientists use a small unit of energy called as electron Volt (eV). For reference purposes, the X-rays have radiation in the magnitude of 100eV to as much as 1 lakh eV. The ultraviolet rays have a lower energy level of 100eV. Wondering what are the energy levels of mobile towers? It’s extremely miniscule as it’s in the order of just one-thousandth to one-millionth of en electron Volt.
Yes, the conspiracy theorists have made you falsely believe about the mobile towers radiation effects, when in fact the radiation levels are a lakh times lesser than the X-rays. So most people have simply drew conclusions from the fact that the mobile towers have radiations, without even checking the radiation levels, and whether they are harmful or not. Also, if X-rays are used by hospitals themselves, and if they aren’t hamful, then how can the radiation from mobile towers be deemed injurious to one’s health?
What’s more? We aren’t extremely close to the mobile towers, that too at the ground level. This means that the exposure to the radiation is several times lower.
Another important thing to understand is that similar to SAR limit of mobile phones – a number below which smartphone’s radiations aren’t detrimental to one’s health – there’s WHO’s prescribed radiation for mobile towers, which is 4 watts per square metre at 800MHz. And, you’d be surprised to know that the global exposure level from towers is as low as 0.73 milliwatt per square metre.
Back in India, there has been a lot of chatter around the same. People have filed several cases in high courts and supreme courts to ensure that the telecom operators don’t put their towers everywhere. However, one 40-page ruling by the Himachal Pradesh High Court states it loud and clear – “it is evident from the aforesaid reports that the exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) does not have any notable impact on the health of human beings. Evidently, the studies conducted till date by the two premier organizations, i.e., WHO and SCENIHR go to indicate that despite a large number of studies being carried out in the last two decades to assess the potential health risk on account of emission of EMF, no major adverse health effect has been noticed.”
So there you have it. As per scientific studies and even courts themselves, the radiations from mobile towers are well within the norm established by WHO, and hence shouldn’t worry you about the so-called health issues caused by them.
