Thermal Effects of Cell Phone and Cell Tower Radiation

Girish Kumar1 and Neha Kumar2

1
Prof., Electrical Engineering Department, IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai – 400 076
Tel: 022-2576-736, E-mail: gkumar@ee.iitb.ac.in
2
Wilcom Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Vashi, Navi Mumbai – 400 705, neha.wilcom@gmail.com

ABSTRACT - There are more than 70 crores cell phone users and nearly 4.5 lakhs cell
phone towers in India. Cell phone technology has grown rapidly in the last decade due to its
several advantages but without realizing its associated harmful effects of radiation. Radiation
effects are divided into – thermal and non-thermal effects. Radiation absorption by the human
body is called specific absorption rate (SAR) and is measured in watts per kg (W/kg). In
USA, SAR limit for cell phones is 1.6W/Kg, which is for 6 minutes/day usage. It has a safety
margin of 3 to 4. People have experienced that their ear gets warm after about 20 minutes of
use of cell phone. It is because the microwave radiation from the cell phone heats the blood in
the ear lobe, and its temperature may increases by nearly 10C = 1.80F, so normal temperature
of 98.40F increases to 100.20F. Radiation from the cell phone also dries up the skin, dries the
fluid in the nearest eye, and it penetrates the skull and heats the brain, which leads to sleep
disorder, irritation, loss of memory, lack of concentration and ultimately to brain tumor.
Interphone study in 2010 mentions that excessive users of mobile phones (1/2 hour/day over
8 to 10 years) have doubled to quadrupled brain tumor risk. Even for an average user,
increase in brain tumor is significant over greater than 10 years of use.

Majority of the cell towers are mounted near the residential and office buildings to provide
good cell phone coverage to the users. These cell towers transmit radiation 24x7, so people
living within several 10’s of meters from the tower receive 10,000 to 10,00,000 times
stronger signal than required for mobile communication. In India, crores of people reside
within these high radiation zones. For cell towers, many countries have adopted maximum
safe radiation density values of 0.001 to 0.024 W/m2, whereas India has adopted ICNIRP
norms of 1998 of f/200, where f (frequency) is in MHz. At 940 MHz (GSM900), it is 4.7
W/m2 and at 1840 MHz (GSM1800), it is 9.2 W/m2. ICNIRP guidelines clearly state that it is
for short term exposure but unfortunately we have adopted it for continuous exposure. If a
human body is modeled as a cylinder, then its area will be 1.436 m2 (average height 5'6" =
1.67 m and waist 34" = 86 cm). So, Microwave power received by human body will be power
density (for GSM900, it is 4.7 W/m2) x area = 6.75 Watts. In one day, microwave energy
absorbed will be 6.75 x 60 x 60 x 24 = 583.2 KW-sec. A typical microwave oven has
microwave power output of approximately 500 W. This implies that human body can be
safely kept in a microwave oven for 1166 seconds = 19 min. per day!!

Continuous exposure from the cell tower radiation causes multiple resonances inside the
body, thereby creating several hot and warm spots. Most common complaints are: sleep
disorder, concentration problems, memory loss, headache, depression, irritability, joint
problems, and cancer. Children and pregnant ladies are more vulnerable. Bio-initiative report
(610 pages long) recommends limit of 0.001 W/m2 = 1000 µW/m2 for outdoor exposure. We
recommend an upper limit of 0.0001 W/m2 = 100 µW/m2 as safe for continuous exposure
over the lifetime. Apart from humans, cell tower radiation also affects farm animals, birds,
plants, trees and environment.