India: Tower-ing inferno

Bron: www.mid-day.com/news/2013/apr/300413-tower-ing-inferno.htm .
10 mei 2013

Een interessant verhaal met een medisch specialist en een Bollywood actrice als hoofdpersonen

Subject: “Health is our fundamental right and cannot be sacrificed for
wealth of a few individuals and corporates.”
Date: Fri, 10 May 2013 11:32:35 +0900

“Health is our fundamental right and cannot be sacrificed for wealth of a few
individuals and corporates.”

~ Prakash Munshi, member of Indians for Safe Environments (IFSE)
That pretty much sums it up! I could not have said it better myself.
Paul Raymond Doyon

Tower-ing inferno

Call to harm goes up as Dadar Matunga residents urged to fight mobile phone
tower radiation problems; ire and fire marks three-hour long meet on issue

April 30, 2013
MUMBAI
Hemal Ashar
It was dial R for radiation and rage on Sunday, April 28 morning as
residents from the Dadar, Wadala and Matunga areas came together to
protest, learn and listen to views of people. These experts and
activists were citing possible hazards posed by radiation from the
antennae of mushrooming mobile phone towers on buildings at the leafy,
green Dadar Parsi Colony and adjoining areas.
Actor Juhi Chawla, now fresh faced poster girl for the anti radiation
from mobile tower antennae movement speaks. Pics/Datta Kumbhar
The aim was to educate, inform and frankly as activists stated, awaken
citizens and residents into action so that they join the movement
against cell phone towers. Currently, medical opinion, seems to be
cleaved into two, there are doctors who cite ‘inconclusive medical
evidence’ about the effect of cell tower radiation (there are hospitals
in the city which have a cell phone tower on their terrace) to others
who say that effects may lead to cancer and a host of other illnesses.
The meet was held under the aegis of the Forum Against Cell Tower
Radiation (F.A.C.T.) Dadar-Matunga.
Activist Prakash Munshi illustrates his point with a slide

Safety

Dr Ashish Mehta, spinal and neurological surgeon at Breach Candy and
Saifee Hospitals in a detailed presentation to a packed Mancherji Joshi
Hall (Dadar Parsi Colony, 5 Gardens) outlined the functions of a cell,
aided by a slide presentation. He veered into the scientific while
explaining how cells ‘talk’ to one another. “Do you feel you are safe?”
he asked the audience before pointing to a slide showing a number of
everyday gadgets one used, like the microwave and the electromagnetic
field around them.
Dr Ashish Mehta the man of science
These though Dr Mehta said, “are transitory stimulus, for instance one
is not standing before a microwave for 24 hours a day, so cells get a
chance to repair themselves. It is when electromagnetic radiation is
allowed to continuously bombard a cell, then, there is a problem. Cell
phones have revolutionised the communication paradigm and though cells
do have an automatic repair system it is when there is a disparity
between damage and repair, which causes problems.”
Using slides for impact
In a reference to the argument that there is no scientific evidence to
prove that radiation from cell phone tower antennae is harmful to
health, Dr Mehta cited examples of how a gynaecologist fought for 30
years to convince the medical fraternity that x-ray rays are harmful to
the foetus. The same with the tobacco industry, so many years ago,
tobacco was not considered harmful.”

Philosophical

Dr Mehta also cleared the air why some people may get affected by
radiation from cell phones and cell phone tower antennae, while others
do not, “Organ susceptibility varies from individual to individual'' and
stated that Israel had done maximum work on cell phone tower radiation.
You cannot change your genes but you can change your lifestyle,” he
said to applause.
What it was all about
The doc then brought a dash of philosophy to that Sunday morning saying
that: “‘A diamond is a piece of charcoal that handles stress
exceptionally well’ and that is what all those working in this field
are.” There was also another one about trust which is, as Dr Mehta’s
slide said: ‘Like a smooth piece of paper, crumble it and you will
never smooth it all the way out.’ (Gosh: that was profound. Hope I got
that spot on).
A gent talks about being threatened while activist Nikhil Desai looks
on
Dr Mehta’s presentation was peppered with information about
carcinogenic effects and also other effects like hair fall, hearing
deficit, vision and memory problems. He also cited what one could do to
reduce exposure, including not using cordless phones itself and avoid
keeping cell phones too close to the body always, like some people who
do keep their cells in their pockets all the time. His pronouncements
sent the jean clad in the audience fishing out their cell phones from
the pockets in alarm.

Bollywood

‘Let’s not be alarmist, just informative’ was actor Juhi Chawla’s
address to the audience. For those who are wondering
what-was-she-doing-there, Juhi has become an easy on the eye poster
girl for the anti-radiation from cell towers movement, ever since she
played a role in bringing awareness and the removal of cell phone
towers from the Sahyadri guest house at Malabar Hill in South Mumbai.
Incidentally, Juhi stays opposite Sahyadri. So, Juhi, in white shirt
and light blue jeans with black high heels, brought some glamour to the
morning which was fast moving into noon. “Where do I begin?” she asked
the audience. “I am so glad I came here because Ashishbhai’s (referring
to Dr Mehta) presentation was so educative.
My family knows Ashishbhai for so many years and my husband trusts his
judgement implicitly. So, if he believes the radiation from the
antennae of towers is harmful, then, it further cements my belief in
the issue. As I was coming in here, I thought to myself how beautifully
green this place is, so many of you all who live here, are better off
than us, I guess…” she said to some laughs and then spoke for a united
effort in combating the cell phone tower malaise stating: “‘God does
not expect us to succeed; he only wants us to try’” a Mother Teresa
quote.
Juhi also stated that the cell phone industry should give buyers
information about do’s and don’ts when people buy a cell phone and
stated that little children carrying cell phones are common these days,
“they do not need one.” Chawla also said like smoking in the movies, is
a subject for intense debate whether one should show actors smoking on
film, there may be a case made for correct cell phone usage being shown
in the movies.” She ended just before a blitzkrieg called Prakash
Munshi took the dais to air his anti-cell phone tower radiation views.

Thunder

Munshi, member of Indians for Safe Environments (IFSE) started in
characteristic thunderous fashion saying, “Health is our fundamental
right and cannot be sacrificed for wealth of a few individuals and
corporates.” He was greeted with cheers from the audience who had been
getting a little twitchy as Sunday lunchtime neared.
Munshi then showed a few clips from Bollywood about cell phones and
then, even one slide where the lyrics of: ‘mere saamne waali khidki
mein’ were adapted to ‘mere saamne waale khidki se ek mobile tower
dikhta hai’ the slide ended with apologies to Padosan (the movie).
Well, obviously mobile towers are not just injurious to health but can
deflate romance too.
Munshi charged up the audience by saying that the, “Govt. is playing
football they are passing the ball amongst themselves, they do not know
the rules of football which is to reach the goal not keep passing the
ball within each other, there are no damn regulations on certain
issues, and we are frustrated with the Govt.” He also stated that
certain ‘reports’ are incomprehensible to the common man and then cited
two replies he had received via Right to Information (RTI) on related
issues.
“One reply stated that: ‘the file is in torn condition and we cannot
reply’ while another said that the file: ‘has been temporarily
displaced and despite due diligence we cannot search it, when we find
it we will reply.’” He was met with laughter from the audience and
then, Munshi asked, “How can we use RTI with such bureaucrats?” Ending
by saying the onus of proving health hazards from mobile tower
radiation must lie with cellular operators, Munshi left the stage with
a final flourish, “We are a developed country when we want, an
undeveloped country when we want and a superpower when convenient. In
fact, we are none of these, we are simply the world's biggest
democracy,” he exited with that, setting the tone for a crisp Question
& Answer session.

Interaction

Somebody asked what rules were there for mobile towers near schools,
another said that the media (except one paper and a channel) has not
helped in the fight, while a third warned the audience that if they try
to remove towers they will face threats like they did. At one point the
meeting threatened to spiral out of control with people trying to get a
word in, but soon order was restored and people were told what they
could do in case they want to join the fight against mobile phone
towers.
In the end, it was evident that this issue would continue to cleave the
city. Activists are stating that by using terms like ‘waiting for
conclusive evidence’ we see that while waiting people are being
afflicted by disease, prime amongst which is cancer. They state that
conclusive evidence, whatever that may be, may be a long time coming
but there are enough doubts and questions to warrant removal of mobile
towers. ‘If in doubt, take them (the towers) out’ is their rallying
rhyme of our times.
7http://www.mid-day.com/news/2013/apr/300413-tower-ing-inferno.htm
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8http://prd34.blogspot.com/
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