IMAGINE a life withoutWiFi Internet, micro-waved food, laptops andmobile phones. Now,imagine living with aninvisible, dense fog thatdamages your brain,heart, lungs, eyes, thyroidgland and nervous system,besides risking your preg-nancy and sending youinto depression.

Plenty of research has beendone on the dangers of the‘electro-smog’ that isenveloping us steadily in ourincreasingly wired world.

Mobile phone companies andservice providers challenged allresearch claims except the oneson radiation. Now, an IIT-Bom-bay professor, Girish Kumar,and his daughter Neha, who hasdone B.Tech in biotechnology,have put together the researchdata to highlight the damagedone by the radiation that isnecessary for a cellphone tofunction.

Prof Kumar, who tracked hisbloated fingers to the extraordi-nary radiation in his study,found that IIT Bombay, despiteits dense foliage, could not blockthe radiation from a cluster oftransmitting towers. Thisspurred him to look up availableliterature on the subject.

There are a number of studieswhich have sought to establish alink between mobile phones andbrain tumours, sleep problemsand hearing loss. The report com-piled by Neha and Prof Kumar,who has invented a device toblock radiation, also looks atother lesser known effects.

A paper published by ProfHenry Lai and N.P. Singh in 1995documented DNA damage inthe brain cells of rats exposed tocell phone radiation. But thepaper was contested by cell-phone manufacturers.

Other studies found thatmobile phone radiation cancause irreparable damage to theDNA. According to ProfKumar’s report, when the DNAis damaged faster than it can berepaired, it can lead to cancer.

Yet, rather than advocatingdumping cellphones, Lai said, “If

the results are confirmed in fur-ther studies, we can engineer ourway out of the problems, just aswe engineered the technology inthe first place.”

Hungarian scientists found a30 per cent drop in sperm countin frequent mobile phone users.Not just using a mobile phone,but also carrying it in pocketcould affect a man’s spermcount and the sperm motility(speed of movement).

Some doctors in South Ger-many found that people livingclose to two transmitter anten-nas installed in 1993 and 1997faced three-times the risk of

cancer than those living 400metres away from it.

Data was gathered from nearly1,000 patients who had been liv-ing at the same address for 10years. The study showed thatradiation within the 400 m-radius of the towers was 100times higher compared to theouter area.

Another French study showedthat people living within 300metres of a base station reportedincreased incidence of fatigue;those within 200 metres hadmore headaches, sleep distur-bance, and discomfort; andthose within 100 metres reportedirritability, depression, loss ofmemory, dizziness and drop inlibido. Women were found tohave more symptoms than men.

Developed countries like Swe-den, France, Germany, Italy,Greece and Israel are facing theaftermath of radiation. Forexample, the advent of the newthird generation wireless phones(and related community-wideantenna RF emissions)prompted several complaints ofillness in the Netherlands.

A 1998 survey by the Californiadepartment of health servicesindicated that 1,20,000 Californi-ans, and by extrapolation onemillion Americans, were unableto work because of electromag-netic pollution.

Overpopulated Mumbai, too,has its own share of microwaveradiation. The safe limit of radi-ation for human beings is 100microwatts per square metre.

Prof Kumar’s study revealedthat several residential areashad more than 1,000 microwattsper square metres.

He said, “The blood-brain bar-rier, or tight junctions betweenadjacent cells of capillary walls,let only nutrients pass throughfrom the blood to the brain whilekeeping out toxic substances.However, a research by Swedishneurosurgeon Leif Salford onmicrowave radiation showedalbumin, a protein, managed topenetrate the barrier and dam-age the brain.”

The work of Allen Frey andothers indicates that microwaveradiation damages similarmechanisms that protect theeye and the foetus, Prof Kumar’sreport says.

WHAT IS MICROWAVE RADIATION?These are electromagnetic waves withfrequencies in the range of 1,000-3,00,000MHz. All transmitting towers, such as AMand FM towers and TV and mobile phonetowers, emit microwave radiation. So dowireless computers, cordless phones andtheir base units, cellphones and all otherwireless devices, as well as home appli-ances like the microwave oven

THE SILENTKILLERTHE CONVENIENCE OF USING ELECTRONIC GADGETSCOMES AT A HIGH COST. HERE IS A LOOK HOW

WHY SHOULD WE FEAR IT?Microwave radiation can have thermal andnon-thermal effects. THERMAL EFFECT| Just as the water content inany food heats up almost immediately when putinside a microwave oven, body fluids absorbmicrowave radiation from the atmosphere. The effect on thebrain, made up 90 per cent of water, is more pronouncedNON-THERMAL EFFECT| This relates to cell membrane per-meability. Current safety standards are purely based on thethermal effect — ignoring the non-thermal effects

HOW DOES ITEFFECT US?The radiation can cause ahost of debilitating illnessesincluding brain tumour,acoustic neuroma, lym-phoma, decrease in immunefunction, sleep disorder, anxi-ety, autism, multiple sclero-sis, Alzheimer’s disease,cataract, hypothyroidism,diabetes, malignantmelanoma, testicular cancer,heart attack and strokes in young people. Children are evenmore vulnerable as their skulls are thinner and their nervoussystems are still developing

MOBILE PHONE MODEL SAR OUTPUT(W/KG)Motorola V195s 1.6Nokia E710 1.53LG Rumor 2 1.51Sony Ericsson W350a 1.48Samsung Instinct 1.46Samsung Soul 0.24Nokia 9300 0.21

ARE ALL APPLIANCESEQUALLY DANGEROUS?No. Radiation absorp-tion by the human bodyis called the specificabsorption rate (SAR)

and is measured in watts per kg of tissue(W/kg). Every mobile phone comes with an SARrating. Radiation depends on the phone’sdesign, antenna and how it is used. Thermaleffects occur when the body’s energy absorp-tion exceeds an SAR of 4 W/kg. But non-thermaleffects beginning from 0.1 W/kg can harm

HOW CAN WEPROTECTOURSELVES?� Minimise time on

cellphone anduse briefly whenyou have to

� Don’t call whenthe signal is weak

� Hold the phoneaway from thebody while calling

� Use headsetswith a plastic air-tube betweenthe earpiece andthe phone

� Use a loud-speaker phone

� Avoid WiFi con-nections

� Avoid cordlessphones

� Stay away fromradiation towers

>>

>>

>>

>>>>

By Seema Kamdarin Mumbai

Radiating slow deathPage 13Mail Today, Monday, August 3, 2009

Cellphone radiation can cause irreparable harm to you

It can lead to cancerand heart damage

HE IS the full entertainment pack-age and that’s what makes ShahRukh Khan a brand par excellence.

So, if SRK calls himself the “biggestsuperhero” in India, no one bats an

eyelid. But sometimes the “super-hero” too feels the pressure.“At times, I feel weighed down by all

the titles bestowed upon me. Forinstance, it makes me slightly old if I amcalled Datuk Padma Shri Dr Shah RukhKhan. But nonetheless, such honoursbring a lot of joy,’’ says Khan.

In town recently as a quizmaster forIndian Institute of Planning and Manage-ment, SRK says, “I want a certain level ofmaturity but I still want to be foolish.”

“I want my kids to look at me as ‘old’and ‘mature’,” SRK adds.

However, when it comes to movies, thesuperstar is very serious. He says his nextfilm, My Name Is Khan, is “different andinteresting”.

“It deals with a problem of how theworld is breaking into factions. It’s notabout terrorism, destruction or Muslimanger. The film explores misconceptions

about religion, creed, caste and familythrough the eyes of an autistic man,”said the actor.

Shah Rukh has high expectations fromMy Name Is Khan, especially since it’s beenbought by Fox Studios for Rs 100 crore.

“I think association with Fox is going to

be wonderful because it will be the firstBollywood film produced in India butreleased and distributed like Hollywoodfilms,” said Shah Rukh.

The picture though is not very rosyabout SRK’s other passion – his Indian Pre-mier League team — Kolkata Knight Rid-ers (KKR). “Besides picking up captain andcoach, we will also try to come up with awinning formula in our next meeting onAugust 4,” he said. SRK denied that SouravGanguly had been selected as the captain.

SRK is also excited about playing asuperhero in his VFX-laden home pro-duction, Ra.One, despite experiencingpain. But doctors have advised ShahRukh to avoid doing action sequences forat least two months.

Well, if you happen to be India’s biggeststar, your life will surely be full of action— on screen or off it.

By Prashant Singh in New Delhi

King Khan too gets bogged down by superhero tag

Shah Rukh Khan at an event in Delhi.

‘I want a level of maturitybut still be a little foolish’

PARVEEN NEGI