Environmentalist Sainudeen Pattazhy said that the recent Kerala High Court’s observation that there was no proof whether telecommunication towers affect the health of the people or not was “unscientific”.
Pattazhy, who was the member of the Committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to study the possible impact of mobile towers on birds and bees, said that the verdict would only help tower companies and not the public.
The Kerala High Court Bench had made the observation on July 11 while allowing a petitioner, Kochi-based Towers Limited, to commission telecommunication towers, provided they have necessary permits and licences.
“At present, there are around 459 studies showing harmful effects of mobile tower radiations on human beings. If the High Court had referred at least a few of these reports, it could not have reached such a conclusion,” he said.
Pattazhy said that according to WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the electromagnetic fields from mobile phones and towers were potentially carcinogenic to human beings.
These findings were published in the medical journal Lancet (July 2001 issue).
“The High Court ignored the IARC report while reaching the conclusion that radiation from towers will not affect human health,” he said.
“Also, the Inter-Ministerial Committee constituted by the Central Government to examine the effect of electromagnetic fields (EMF) radiation stated that radiation from mobile phones and towers were hazardous to children and patients.
“It stated that radiation from towers and mobile phones were harmful and could cause cancer, brain tumour, digestive disorder and other diseases in the human body. Based on this report, the Rajasthan High Court in November 2012 issued an order for relocating towers from the vicinity of schools, colleges, hospitals and playgrounds,” Pattazhy said.