Your Health

There is the need to take adequate
precautions when using a mobile
phone.

Medical experts and telecom operators hold different views on the health implications of mobile phone system and its masts. The possibility of both having long-term adverse effects cannot be ruled out, reports Sade Oguntola.

The killer on the roof top was the way the mobile phone masts in Bristol, United Kingdom (UK), was described after seven clusters of cancer and other serious illnesses were discovered around mobile phone masts in the city, raising concerns over the technology’s potential impact on health.

Studies on the sites showed high incidences of cancer, brain haemorrhages(bleeding) and high blood pressure within a radius of 400 yards of mobile phone masts. One of the studies, in Warwickshire, showed a cluster of 31 cancers around a single street. A quarter of the 30 staff at a special school within sight of the 90ft high mast had developed tumours since 2000, while another quarter had suffered significant health problems.

Dr John Walker, a scientist with the help of local campaigners in Devon, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire and the West Midlands compiled some cluster studies on cancer incidences and from the result, was convinced they showed a potential link between the angle of the beam of radiation emitted from the masts’ antennae and illnesses discovered in local populations.

Phone masts have provoked protests throughout Britain with thousands of people objecting each week to planning applications. Meanwhile, many people in Nigeria are not aware of the possibility that phone masts may have negative health implications, when erected near residential areas.

For instance, Mr. Kunle Oguntunde, a teacher resident at Koloko area in Ibadan, said he was not aware if there were any associated problems with such phone masts like the one sited in Koloko area where he resides. Mr. Abdul Babatunde, a student at the Polytechnic, Ibadan, also looked blank when asked if phone masts could affect the health of people in the area where it is sited.

Experts and telecom operators are however divided on the health implications of phone masts and mobile phones. While telecom operators insist that both, under normal circumstances, cannot cause cancer, some medical experts said there is the need for caution because the two are also sources of radiation and any radiation can predispose to cancer and other diseases.

Some scientists believe such a link exists and studies in other European countries suggest a rise in cancers among people living close to masts. For instance, a German study by the German Federal Agency for Radiation Protection by Eger, Hagen, Lucas, Vogel and Voit, examined whether people living within 400 metres of a mobile phone mast in Naila were more at risk of developing cancer than those who lived further away.

Case histories of 1,000 patients were evaluated between 1994 and 2004 and newly diagnosed cancers were significantly higher among those who had lived for 10 years within 400 metres of the masts, in operation since 1993, compared with those living further away. The patients had fallen ill on the average eight years earlier.

The people living within 400 metres of the mast in Naila were found to have had three times the risk of developing cancer than those living further away. This seems to be an undeniable clustering of cancer cases. Dr. Abbas Abdul-Salaam, a consultant radiotherapist and clinical oncologist at the University College Hospital (U.C.H), Ibadan, explained that there are no clear and straight forward evidences that mobile phone masts can cause ill health.

He said: “Phone masts are usually at a very high height from the ground and most of the radiation goes upwards not downwards. Even though this is of no serious scientific significance in terms of health problems, he said there are however several sources of background radiations from radioactive substances from the ground, the sun, etc, that people must be mindful of.

This, however, he said, is not to say that people should not take precautions since its associated long term implications are yet to be known. He added: “Cancer, for example, as a complication of radiation, is not something that occurs two to three years after exposure. It may take up to 20 to 30 years for it to be seen and our exposure to the use of mobile phones throughout the world is less than 20 years and that is not enough to decide conclusively that there is no long term health risks associated with radiations from mobile phone masts.

“So, there is always the need to take adequate precautions. For instance, mast stations must ensure they meet regulated heights. Where mobile phone masts base stations have transmitting surfaces that are placed such that people can have easy access to them in living quarters, people need to avoid close and prolonged contact with such areas.

Other precautions to take according to him include:

• Do not stay too long talking on the mobile phone.

• Use regulated phones from established and known manufacturers that have low specific absorption ratio. The specific absorption ratio indicates the level of risk of radiation an individual is exposed to and the higher its value, the more the risk of radiation exposure.

• Use your cell phones hands free if possible.
Given that there are radiations everywhere, he advised that individuals should reduce there exposure to radiation to a level as low as possible because radiation exposures are linked to virtually all cancers, especially those affecting the skin, blood and lymph nodes, and minor problems like fatigue and tiredness.

In the opinion of another medical expert at the Department of Chemical Pathology of UCH, Dr. Bayo Akinosun, radiation from high-tension electricity wire should give an individual more concern than that from a single phone mast sited in a residential area.

However, a cluster of phone masts will make for concentration of radiation in that area, thus increasing the chances of the people in the area taking in more doses of radiation. According to him, the “idea of having phone masts in people’s home is not good, especially for children, pregnant women and women of child bearing ages since they are more exposed to radiations.

A situation where everybody now lives in a world of radiation from cell phones, electricity cables, electrical appliances like television and so on, requires people to be careful of what they eat as well. When nutritional intake are deficient of antioxidants such as vitamins A,C and E , due to poverty or wrong choice of foods, such individuals may be worse off when exposed to any radiation, he said.