Mobile towers pose no health risk: Govt

New Delhi, May 4

There is absolutely no truth or scientific basis that radiation from mobile towers and handsets has adverse impact on humans and other living beings, Telecom Minister Ravishankar Prasad said today.

“There are rumours that people will suffer from cancer and other diseases. It is completely baseless and unfounded. There is no impact on humans. There is no empirical evidence of any danger to human life because of all this. Even the World Health Organisation, after 30 years of studies, has revealed there are no such threats,” he said in Lok Sabha during Question Hour.

Prasad said six High Courts in the country, in separate rulings, have made it clear there is no radiation from mobile towers that impact human health.

“World over there is no impact. But I want to ask why are such issues raised in India alone? No one has raised such issues in the US, the UK, China or Korea where mobile towers are installed in large numbers.

“If there is no mobile tower, there will be more call drops. Can we afford to do that? Can we live without mobile phones? If you want that not to happen, please allow mobile towers to come up in your areas,” he said, adding “let us be pragmatic. In today’s world, can we do without a mobile phone?”

The minister said if people had apprehensions about radiation, it could come while undergoing X-ray or when people were subjected to screening by metal detectors. — PTI