Cellular Towers

There are various kinds of radiation all around us, even gravity is a kind of radiation.
Some of the radiation that humans are exposed to, are known to be destructive to the
body cells, and can potentially cause cancer. The kind of radiation that can knock
electrons off atoms and create ions is known as ionizing radiation, and studies have
linked this kind of radiation to adverse health effects on the body. Common ionizing
radiation that humans are exposed to include gamma radiation, x-rays and ultraviolet
rays. The natural sunlight is actually potentially more harmful to your body than telecom
towers.

Telecom towers use non ionizing radiation. This is not the kind of radiation known to
be destructive to human cells. The radiation is similar to microwave radiation, and can
potentially heat up tissue if the radiation is really concentrated. However, radiation from
cellular towers are intermittent, and are not nearly powerful enough to have adverse
health effects on humans.

There has been a lot of controversy related to health issues of radio waves. The hard
truth is while we think ‘what if’ radio waves are dangerous to health, we are all happy
with the everyday use of cell phones, TV and many appliances based on radio waves.
And as it turns out the health issues are based on myths than on facts. Despite a long
history of research, there is no evidence if radio waves cause cancer or brain tumor.
IFC (under the umbrella of World Bank) quotes ICNIRP that there is no empirical data
on adverse health effects of EM exposure.

Radiation has no adverse impact on human health. During the last 30 years, the World
Health Organization has conducted some 25,000 campaigns on this subject and never
stated that mobile tower radiation has adverse impact on human health.
How are people exposed?
The RF waves from towers come from the antenna and the waves are strongest at the
antenna and lose energy quickly as they travel away from the tower. The phone is
typically held against the side of the head when in use. The closer the antenna is to the
head, the greater a person’s expected exposure to RF energy. The body tissues closest
to the phone absorb more energy than tissues farther away.

Many factors can affect the amount of RF energy to which a person is exposed,
including:

 The amount of time the person is on the phone.

 Whether or not the person is using the speaker mode on the phone or a hands-
free device. Using one of these allows the phone to be held away from the head.

 The distance and path to the nearest cell phone tower. Cell phones adjust their
power to use the minimum amount for a good signal. Being farther away from the
tower requires more energy to get a good signal, as does being inside a building.

 The amount of cell phone traffic in the area at the time. Higher traffic may require
more energy to get a good signal.

 The model of phone being used. Different phones give off different amounts of
energy.

What do lab studies suggest?

As noted above, the RF waves given off by towers don’t have enough energy to
damage DNA directly or to heat body tissues. Most studies done in the lab have
supported the idea that RF waves do not cause DNA damage.
What do studies in humans suggest?
Several dozen studies have looked at possible links between cell phone use and
tumors. Most of these studies have focused on brain tumors. Many of these have been
case-control studies, in which patients with brain tumors (cases) were compared to
people free of brain tumors (controls), in terms of their past cell phone use.

These studies have had following results:

 In most studies patients with brain tumors do not report more cell phone use
overall than the controls. This finding is true when all brain tumors are considered
as a group, or when specific types of tumors are considered.

 Most studies do not show a “dose-response relationship,” which would be a

tendency for the risk of brain tumors to be higher with increasing cell phone use.
This would be expected if cell phone use caused brain tumors.

 Most studies do not show that brain tumors occur more often on the side of the
head where people hold their cell phones. This might also be expected if cell
phone use caused brain tumors.

Three large studies deserve special mention:

The INTERPHONE study

The 13-country INTERPHONE study, the largest case-control study done to date,
looked at RF radiation exposure among more than 5,000 people who developed brain
tumors (gliomas or meningiomas) and a similar group of people without tumors. Overall,
the study found no link between brain tumor risk and the frequency of calls, longer call
time, or cell phone use for 10 or more years.
Another part of the INTERPHONE study compared more than 1,000 people with
acoustic neuromas to more than 2,000 people without tumors, who served as matched
controls. As with gliomas and meningiomas, there was no overall link between cell
phone use and acoustic neuromas.

The Danish cohort study

A large, long-term study has been comparing all of the people in Denmark who had a
cell phone subscription between 1982 and 1995 (about 400,000 people) to those
without a subscription to look for a possible increase in brain tumors. The most recent
update of the study followed people through 2007. Cell phone use, even for more than
13 years, was not linked with an increased risk of brain tumors, salivary gland tumors,
or cancer overall, nor was there a link with any brain tumor subtypes or with tumors in
any location within the brain.

The Million Women Study

A large prospective (forward-looking) study of nearly 800,000 women in the UK
examined the risk of developing brain tumors over a 7-year period in relation to self-
reported cell phone use at the start of the study. This study found no link between cell
phone use and brain tumors overall or several common brain tumor subtypes, but it did
find a possible link between long-term cell phone use and acoustic neuromas.