New Delhi: The Environment Ministry has set
up a panel to study the impact of radiation from mobile towers
on bees and birds and formulate guidelines for regulating
installation of such structures.
This has come in the wake of reports that electromagnetic
radiation emitted by the mobile towers posed threat to the
movement and breeding of the bees and birds which are the best
indicators of the status of the ecology.
The 10-member panel headed by Asad Rehmani, Director of
the Bombay Natural History Society, will assess the possible
impact of the radiation.
The panel will formulate guidelines for regulating the
large scale installation of mobile towers in the country, a
senior environment official said.
He said the panel comprised officials from Wildlife
Institute of India (WII), Telecom and Environment Ministries.
Researchers in the field will also give suggestions.
Some studies have been conducted in India and abroad on
the ill effects of mobile towers on animals, birds and insects
and the panel will review the findings, he said.
A recent study conducted in Kerala found that radiation
from mobile towers threatened the very existence of not only
bees but also home sparrow, which lives in colonies close to
human habitation even in urban areas.
PTI
