Mobile phone towers emit no electromagnetic radiation: National Assembly informed

The National Assembly on Tuesday referred the issue of mobile telephone towers installed in populated areas to the committee on environment despite the government assurance that the towers emit no electromagnetic radiation, which causes various lethal diseases among the people.
Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi of the MQM moved the matter for discussion. He said that there are around 10,000 towers in the country. By the end of 2007, the number of the towers would reach around 13,000. These towers emit electromagnetic radiation, which causes serious diseases among the people, he said.
He questioned the writ of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in ensuring that the cellular companies follow the international safety standards. "The cellular companies must have the safety standards which they have in their own countries," he said. He said he was doubtful about any safety standards pursued by the PTA, as the authority had not given any specific public safety guidelines for the cellular companies.
Parliamentary secretary for cabinet division, Dr Firdus Ashiq Awan said that she did not reject the apprehensions expressed by the mover. However, it is clear that there was no emission of electromagnetic radiation from mobile towers.
She said that there were around 10,000 towers in Pakistan, while the number of the towers only in London is around 45,000. If there is no health hazards caused by cellular towers in London, then such question does not arise in Pakistan, she remarked.
However, the parliamentary secretary offered that PTA could be asked to conduct a special briefing for the parliamentarians if they have certain observations.
She said that PTA looked into each and every aspect before granting a license to cellular company. Frequency allocation board of the PTA is quite functional. The cellular companies' service is operational on radio frequency and the emission from the service could not be termed electromagnetic radiation, she added.
Zafar Ali Shah of PPP-Parliamentarians, Duniya Aziz of PML-Q and Farid Ahmad Piracha of the MMA also supported the point of view of Haider Abbas Rizvi.
Duniya Aziz said that in the past the people were told that there was no cause of concern in smoking. But after some time, it was confirmed that smoking causes cancer and other diseases, she said. The government must look into each and every aspect of mobile phone towers in the populated areas, as there is possibility that we are told of their demerits after 10 years from now, she maintained.
Khurshid Awan, MNA of the ruling coalition, however, said that cellular mobile towers were causing health problem for the public. Noor Jehan Panezai, who chaired the session, referred the matter to the committee on environment. She said that PTA should inform the committee about the dangerous diseases caused by towers.