Is mobile tower radiation carcinogenic?
Medical experts are divided as to whether radiation from mobile towers can be a health hazard for residents residing in nearby areas. Over the years, medical studies have refuted the connection between non-ionizing radiation emitted by cell phone towers, and cancer. Oncologists too have said that such type of radiation is not carcinogenic, but not everyone in the science fraternity agrees. There are two types of radiation: ionising and non-ionizing.
Medical experts are divided as to whether radiation from mobile towers can be a health hazard for residents residing in nearby areas. Over the years, medical studies have refuted the connection between non-ionizing radiation emitted by cell phone towers, and cancer. Oncologists too have said that such type of radiation is not carcinogenic, but not everyone in the science fraternity agrees. There are two types of radiation: ionising and non-ionizing.
The former kind is the category under which X-rays fall – these are harmful to the body and can cause cancer. Non-ionizing radiation, on the other hand, is a low-energy radiation which generates heat. Mobile tower radiation falls in this category, say experts.
But evidence has come forward which refutes that theory. In 2004, Israeli researchers reported a four-fold increase in the incidence of cancer among people living within 350 meters of a long-established phone mast, compared with the general populace.
German authors also reported the same year that the proportion of new cancer cases was significantly higher among patients who had lived in the past decade at a distance of up to 400 m from cellular transmission sites compared with those living further away.In 2005, research in Austria showed significant changes in the electrical currents in the brain caused by a cell-phone base station at a distance of 80 meters.