Rohita Doshi, a 53-year old Mumbai resident, recently lined the walls of her bedroom with aluminum sheets, and placed tinted film on her home’s windows.
Although “it’s an expenditure and a nuisance,” says Ms. Doshi, a mother and an art consultant, she says she did this to protect her family. “This isn’t just paranoia.”
She is one of a growing number of people across her city who are taking steps to insulate their homes from what they feel are the harmful effects of cellphone tower radiation.
There is no scientific consensus on whether this type of radiation is damaging to health. In May 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, said there is “limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans” from phone tower radiation. But the agency’s study also warned that the “technology used in cell phone towers is too recent to rule out possible long-term effects.”
Although there is no conclusive scientific proof, many Mumbai residents are unwilling to take the risk and are battling for phone towers to be removed from parts of the city.
“Even if there is a small chance that these towers will affect my health, why will I want to have them near my house?” says Smita Agarwal, a 44-year-old housewife who blames her frequent headaches, fatigue and insomnia on the antennae installed on the terrace above her South Mumbai flat. These days, Ms. Agarwal and the rest of her family stay clear of their living room, which is directly below the antennae. She has also placed taller plants near the windows, saying these could help shield her family from the emissions from the cellphone tower opposite her house.
Ms. Agarwal has been lobbying her neighbors to push for the antennae to be removed from her rooftop, so far with no success, as not all residents are convinced that radiation from cellphone towers could be injurious to health. Telecom operators also pay her building’s administrative body to keep the antennae on the building.
Ms. Agarwal and Ms. Doshi are both members of a Mumbai association that is lobbying the central government to lower existing caps on emissions from cell phone towers, citing apparent links to memory loss, skin disorders and even cancer.
The debate is gaining momentum, with Bollywood celebrities like actor Farhan Akhtar endorsing the cause against phone towers, and the issue receiving extensive attention in the local media, with articles as well as T.V. talk shows zooming in on the potential health hazards.
To quell fears, in December the telecom ministry issued health-and-safety guidelines related to handsets and mobile phone towers, and published them in local newspapers. While reassuring citizens that “India has adopted one of the most stringent Electro Magnetic Field (EMF) exposure norms in the world,” and dispelling myths that cellphones or phone towers are linked to headaches or brain cancer, the notice also recommended people to limit the duration of phone calls, to hold handsets as far as possible from their body, and to keep distance from antennae directly facing them.
Milind Deora, India’s Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology and a member of Parliament from Mumbai, says that unless research proves otherwise, the guidelines in place in India are strong enough. In September, India introduced new guidelines on radiation from cellphone towers that are even stricter than those recommended by the World Health Organization, setting the limit for electromagnetic field radiation from cellphone towers and antennae at 1 watt per square meter for every site or 0.45 W per square meter depending on the frequency used by the tower.
But “Panchayats [village councils], municipalities and state governments should also enforce the guidelines” the telecom ministry has laid for the installation of cell phone towers, he says.
He also added that telecom companies “should be more cooperative” in abiding to existing regulations. Since the Indian government introduced stricter emission norms in September, he says there have been 83 cases of misconduct, said Mr. Deora.
But many residents say these guidelines are not enough. They want even lower emission norms, and rules limiting where cellphone towers or antennae can be set up, an area that falls under the competency of individual state governments.
In Mumbai, the local government last month proposed a policy that, if introduced, would restrict where cellphone towers can be installed in the city. It sets minimum distances between towers and buildings like schools, hospitals and nursing homes.
The new policy would also require companies wishing to install a transmission tower on a residential building to get the approval of the building’s board, or of 70% of the residents in the building.
It’s unclear how soon this policy could be approved and enforced, if at all. If given a green light, it would force operators to remove or relocate a number of towers across the city, a costly process that they want to avoid.
Rajan S. Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India, an industry body representing the country’s major telecom operators, rejects claims that phone tower radiation is linked to health risks, citing the lack of scientific proof. He warns says implementing this new policy would needlessly scare Mumbai’s citizens.
The new guidelines would also significantly worsen network coverage in this city of over 18 million people. “There will be reduction in coverage areas by 20% and one may see a lot of congestion and out of coverage messages,” says Mr. Mathews, who adds some towers have already been removed over protests from worried residents.
Residents say worse network coverage is a small price to pay, if it saves them from health problems. “Health comes before mobile connectivity,” says Prakash Munshi, another resident.
Elsewhere in India, amid pressure from residents, local governments have already implemented policies restricting where mobile towers can be installed. The state government of Rajasthan in November banned mobile phone towers from hospitals, schools, college buildings, and play grounds.
Several telecom industry bodies, including the COAI, petitioned against the order, which was later upheld by the Rajasthan High Court. They have filed an appeal against parts of the order with the Supreme Court of India, and the next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Separately, a parliamentary committee was recently set up to look into allegations that emissions from cellphone towers are linked to health hazards.
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