INSTALLATION OF MOBILE TOWERS OVER RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

AND ITS IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT

Submitted by:
Saif Ali (346)
Semester: VII/B
Telecom Service is a booming sector in India. To give the better cellular service the telecom
companies are installing majority of the towers over the residential building and these
majority of mobile towers are installed over the residential and office building. The effect is
that one operator may transmit 50 to 100W of power and there may be 3-4 operators on the
same roof top or tower, thereby total transmitted power may be 200 to 400W.
The electromagnetic radiation (EMR) emitted from mobile towers is so powerful that it
affects the biological systems of birds, insects, and even humans. The study, released by
the environment ministry, called for the protection of flora and fauna by law.
The review of existing literature shows that the EMRs are interfering with the biological
systems in more ways than one and there had already been some warning bells sounded in the
case on bees and birds, which probably heralds the seriousness of this issue and indicates the
vulnerability of other species as well, the study found.
In absence of any effective legislation on the development and installation of these mobile
phone towers over the residential buildings and offices, the large number of towers are
installed in a such a way that are causing irreparable damage to the environment including
both flora and fauna. The electromagnetic fields (EMF) caused pollution in the form of
electro-smog and cannot be easily detectable causing damage to human beings and other
living creatures. Mobile towers in India are likely to grow to over 500,000 by 2020 from
about 400,000 at present due to increase in demand of wireless internet services. The
pollution caused by these radiation have both short-term as well as long-term effects.
Harmful Effect of Mobile Towers on:
Humans
1. Skin Problems- People who talk often on cell phones have a higher concentration of
the transtyretin protein than those who do not. Transtyretin is formed in the liver.

Morgellons disease is caused by these radiations and its symptoms are crawling,
biting and stinging sensations, granules, threads beneath the skin.
2. Tinnitus and Ear Damage- This disease is commonly known as Ringxiety which is a
psychological disease and reported among millions of mobile phone users in the
country. The radiations emitted from the mobile phone towers results in the damage of
inner ear. The Symptoms of this disease are trouble hearing, working or even sleeping
disorder.
3. Neurodegenerative Diseases- All these diseases are involved with the death of specific
neurons and are classified as neurodegenerative diseases. People living near mobile
phone base stations are also at risk for developing neuropsychiatric problems as
headache, memory loss, nausea, dizziness, tremors, muscle spasms, numbness,
tingling, altered reflexes, muscle and joint paint, leg/foot pain, depression, and sleep
disturbance. More severe reactions include seizures, paralysis, psychosis and stroke.
4. Increase in Cancer risk: Heavy use of mobile phones can cause cancer. Use of mobile
phones for more than 10 years give a consistent pattern of increased risk for brain
cancer glioma andacoustic neuroma. The risk is highest for ipsilateral exposure.
Children and teenagers, before the age of 20 are five times more likely to get brain
cancer, as their brain is not fully developed and radiation penetration is much deeper.
Besides increase in brain tumor and acoustic neuroma, there is an increased risk of
several other types of cancers following prolonged exposure to mobile phone/ tower
radiation, such as, salivary gland tumors, uveal melanoma, lymphoma, facial nerve
tumors, skin, blood, testicular and breast cancer.
Flora & Fauna
1. Birds and BeesThe birds and bees when come in contact with weak electromagnetic fields then these
electromagnetic fields undermines their navigational abilities as a result these birds and
bees begin to fly in all the directions. A large number of birds like pigeons, sparrows,
swans are getting lost due to interference from the mobile towers. Several million birds of
230 species die each year from collisions with telecommunications towers during
migration. Accidents happen mainly in the night, in fog, or bad weather, when birds might
be using the earth's magnetic field for navigation, and could be seriously disoriented by
the microwave radiation from telecommunication masts.
2. Mammals and Amphibians-

The cattle like cow or other mammals grazing near the telecommunication towers are
most dangerously affected by the radiations coming out from these towers resulting
into spontaneous abortions, decline in overall health. The magnetic fields coming out
from these towers results into reduction of milk yielding capacity from the cattle,
changed milk composition. Similarly, impaired immune system in sheep, reproductive
and developmental problems in dogs and cats, anxiety and alarm in rabbits, frequent
death of domestic animals such as, hamsters, and guinea pigs living near base stations
of mobile telecommunication towers has been observed. Electromagnetic pollution is
a possible cause for deformations and decline of some amphibian populations too.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests on Effect of Mobile Towers on Birds

The harmful effect of mobile towers on birds is a serious concern before the Ministry of
Environment and Forests. To deal the situation an Expert committee to Study the possible
Impacts of Communication Towers on Wildlife including Birds and Bees was constituted on
30th August, 2010 by Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India.
The Expert Committee had five important mandates which are as follows:
I.

To review all the studies done so far in India and abroad on aspects of ill effects of

II.

mobile towers on animals, birds and insects.

To assess the likely impacts of the growth in the number of mobile towers in the

III.
IV.

country.
To suggest possible mitigatory measures.
To formulate guidelines for regulating the large-scale installation of mobile towers in

V.

the country.
To identify the gap areas for conducting further detailed research.

Role of regulatory agencies

The role of the regulatory agencies like Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and State
Pollution Control Board (SPCB) under many acts became very important regarding the
installation of mobile towers. Some of the essential features of these regulatory bodies are as
follows1. Under The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Environment
(Protection) Act, 1986 air pollutant is defined as: any solid, liquid or gaseous
substance [(including noise)] present in the atmosphere in such concentration as may

be or tend to be injurious to human beings or other living creatures or plants or

property or environment.
2. No person shall, without the previous consent of the State Board, establish or take
any steps to establish any industry, operation or process, or any treatment and disposal
system or an extension or addition thereto as per section 25/26 of the Water
(Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and /or under section 21/22 of the Air
(Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act.
3. For the user end of Mobile towers, the user has to seek consent from the concerned
SPCBs / PCCs for installation of the DG sets which is a source of power supply. The
regulatory agency ensures that the DG sets functions as per approved guidelines with
respect to emission & noise.
4. The Noise Pollution (Regulation & Control) Rules , 2000 states that Whereas
increasing ambient noise levels in public places from various sources inter-alia,
industrial activity, construction activity , (fire crackers , sound producing
instruments ), generator sets, loud speakers, public address systems, music systems,
vehicular horns and other mechanical devices have deleterious effect on human health
& psychological well being of the people, it is considered necessary to regulate &
control of noise producing & generating sources with the objective of maintaining the
ambient air quality standards in respect of NOISE.