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| NEW DELHI: It’s difficult to imagine life without the cellphone or the laptop. From being luxury gizmos earlier, they are almost human appendages now, attached to us 24x7. But are we paying a huge price for our dependence on such electronic items? Recently, a Jawaharlal Nehru University pilot study found that 20 rats subject to mobile phone radiation had damaged DNA and low sperm count. And last week, the Union health ministry commissioned the first large-scale study of the effects of radio frequency radiation from mobile phones on humans. With 250 million mobile phone subscribers currently in India, and many more using other appliances like television, computer, vacuum cleaner, microwave etc, the fear is that these ‘essentials’ of life may actually be posing a big health risk because of their electromagnetic fields (EMFs). As such, research has not yet established anything definite about the impact of EMFs on the human body. They are every where, though we cannot sense them. Almost all electronic equipments have EMFs and we are constantly bombarded by the radiation from these fields. But then, not all EMFs have an impact. Only those with high frequencies -- 2mG (milli gauss) and above -- cause the maximum harm. And these are usually found in appliances that we use on a daily basis -- microwaves, cordless phones, computer monitors, fax machines, cellphones, cellphone towers, hairdryers and so on. Cancer connection? Various international studies have tried to establish the link between EMFs and some diseases. Doctors believe that constant exposure to high frequency EMFs leads to digestive disorders, fatigue, hypertension, insomnia, irritability, low blood pressure, infertility in males, cancer, neurological and cardiovascular problems. A Swedish study in 1993 demonstrated a 1.7 times higher risk of leukemia in adults and a 2.7 times higher risk for childhood leukemia from exposure to EMFs A few years back, the California Department of Health Ser vices concluded after a seven-year study that EMF exposure is a risk factor for childhood leukemia. The threat is real and omnipresent. Says oncologist Dr Ramananda Nadig, president, Health Care Global-Triesta Sciences Bangalore, “Most, if not all, electrical appliances that emit EMFs are harmful to a certain extent. While they may not be initiators of a malignant change, there is every likelihood that they promote/augment such a change. The more people are exposed, the greater the risk. That is why it’s important that we be cautious of EMFs.” In recent years, experts have been studying the impact of cellphones and cellphone towers on the human body, and the initial research results have not been too comforting An Australian neurosurgeon of Indian origin Dr Vini Khurana, recently published a research paper on the link between mobiles and brain cancer. He said using mobiles for over 10 years could more than double the risk of brain cancer. Mobile phone radiation, he says could heat the side of the head or ther moelectrically inter act with the brain while Bluetooth de vices and “unshielded headsets could “convert the user’s head into an effective, potentially self-harming antenna” . Similarly, cellphone towers are a cause of concern. A 2005 study by Gursatej Gandhi, a re searcher in the Human Genetics Department, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, found that “exposure to radio frequency (RF) signals generated by the use of cellular phones has increased dramatically and is reported to affect physiological neurological, cognitive and behavioural changes and to in duce, initiate and promote carcinogenesis” |
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