Mobile towers not creating health problems for public: National Assembly informed

Minister for Environment Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi has informed the National Assembly on Wednesday that 21,000 mobile towers have been installed at different locations of the country and level of radio waves frequency emitted from these towers is far less than the safe limits.
Responding to a query of Haider Abbas Rizvi of MQM, he said that the mobile towers are not creating health problems for the general public. The government has further made it mandatory for the owners of the mobile towers to obtain necessary NOC from the relevant department.
Haider Abbas Rizvi MNA was of the view that the magnetic waves of the mobile towers seriously impact the human body. The installation of such towers everywhere without any check is a serious issue, which needs to be addressed by the competent authority.
Meanwhile, in a written reply, Minister for Environment said that there is no scientific evidence available yet to establish that mobile towers installed in the urban areas in the country are causing environmental pollution. At present there are 21,000 mobile towers in the country some of which have also installed gen. sets.
The environment related issues of Base Transmission System (BTS) mobile towers are identified in terms of health hazards due to radiation, noise and vibration. The studies by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) have confirmed that the level of radio frequency waves (non-ionized radiation of low frequency and long wave length) emitted from these towers is far less than the safe limits.
On the basis of various studies, World Health Organisation (WHO) has also concluded that base station signals are too weak to have any health problem. Mobile Towers installed at roof top of plaza/buildings are however of potential, hazard as they can fall with earthquake or strong wind.
As a precautionary measure, the government has issued a guideline that there should be no direct public exposure within, 15ft from the source. Pak-EPA has also advised to install canopies on the gen. sets to limit noise level up to 75 dB. Station operators have also been instructed to install solar panels to energise the stations instead of gen. sets.
He said that sharing of mobile towers by different operators is being implemented by PTA. It is pertinent to mention that different studies are also under process to calculate the cumulative effect of radiation emitted from BTS towers, he added.