By Madhura Kadaba
There’re days in which we all feel like being a good little girl is getting us nowhere. We are guessing that’s what Shubha and Shobha felt last Thursday. That’s how these two women in Hyderabad ended up on the top of a cell tower.
Shubha and Shobha, who live in the Addagutta basti area of Hyderabad, were concerned about a new cell phone tower that was built on top of a three storey building in their neighbourhood over a month ago. The women, along with other residents of the area had petitioned the building owner to have the tower removed, who had promised to do so. But no go.
On 19 May, things came to a head. The tower was days from becoming functional. No one had heard the women, and nobody had cared about their concerns about cell phone tower radiations and their dangerous effect on health. So, they climbed up, and threatened to jump off if no one heard their demands.
The police heard them, and set up nets. The local MLA and Telangana Excise Minister T Padma Rao Goud also heard them and came to the location a couple of hours later. Only after the Minister pacified the protestors did they climb down, after more than eight hours up on the cell phone tower. The women have been asked to move court if they want to have the cell phone tower removed.
Other people in more privileged positions with concerns about radiation from cellphone towers have had their voices heard. Movie star Juhi Chawla has turned crusader for the cause, writing letters, leading workshops and giving lectures on the issue. Her PIL filed in September 2015 seeking regulations to reduce cell phone tower radiation is in front of the Bombay High Court.
It isn’t just Chawla or Shubha and Shobha who worry about radiation from cell phone towers and its effect on health – it’s been the subject of a number of stories in the media, including a large investigation in 2010. However, there have been few studies on the subject globally, and no conclusive scientific evidence that they harm the human body. Cell phones utilize radiofrequency waves that are non-ionizing, unlike UV and X-Ray waves which are ionizing and cause chemical bonds that make up the body to break. Cell phones communicate using a lower frequency than even microwaves.
In 2012, the Allahabad High Court directed the formation of a committee of experts to study the impact of cellphone towers in residential areas. In 2014, a report by the 13-member panel said the limits set by India are much lower than the internationally adopted recommendations of the International Commission on Non Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). It said that while the WHO concluded that current evidence does not confirm existence of any health consequences, some gaps in knowledge about biological effects exist and need further research. One of the members of the panel, a scientist who believes that people living in close proximity to cellphone towers are prone to being affected by radiation, said his recommendations had been completely ignored and he did not agree with the report.
In the absence of evidence, we don’t know enough about the impact of cellphone towers on health. But the two women from Addagutta deserve to have their voices heard.