Stakeholders on Monday in Abuja urged telecommunication operators in the country to stop mounting masts close to buildings to stem its health implications.
They made the call at the beginning of a two-day public hearing on “Health Implications of Mounting Masts Close to Buildings’’ organised by the House of Representatives.
Emmanuel Akinwole, National Chairman, National Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (NIEEE), said recent studies on Electro Magnetic Radiation (EMR) showed that masts in residential areas had serious health effects on human beings.
According to him, there is need for base stations to conform to regulations in order to guard against excessive microwave heating.
Akinwole pointed out that some people were likely to become increasingly sensitive to EMR, given the cumulative and chronic nature of effects resulting from exposure to it.
“People should be alerted to symptoms typically induced by exposure to EMR such as headache, dizziness, pains in the skin and muscles, asthmatic conditions, concentration and memory problems and fatigue.
“It is strongly advised that base stations are located sufficiently far away from residential and commercial buildings.
“And, there should be massive sensitization that the use of Wi-Fi devices, laptop computers and mobile phones be restricted from children under the age of eight,’’ he said.
He recommended that all installed masts in the country be maintained regularly by carrying out integrity test, painting of towers, reconstruction of bent towers and other maintenance work to ensure safety of lives.
Similarly, Nnenna Igwegbe, President, Nigerian Society of Safety Engineers, said that some network operators violated the 10 meters distance recommended for locating base stations.
According to her, some houses even have base stations in their compounds and medical reports have shown that radiations from base transceiver stations are carcinogenic.
“They are capable of generating cancer cells in the human body,’’ Igwegbe added.
Contributing, the representative of the Nigerian Medical Association, Jimoh Kamaldeen, said “indeed, there are inherent health hazards associated with mounting telecommunication masts around buildings’’
Kamaldeen urged telecommunication operators to consider sharing existing antennas to reduce the number of base transceiver stations.
He also called for proper enforcement of guidelines regulating telecommunication operations.
According to him, there is need for operators who violate the guidelines to be sanctioned.
Lawrence Anukam, Director-General, National Environmental Standard and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), said that Environment Impact Assessment was crucial in mounting masts.
Anukam also recommended a three-year period for an audit of every telecommunication mast.
According to him, there is need to apply cautionary measures to forestall any environmental and health hazard.
“Let us not wait for an overwhelming evidence before we take action; so, let the telecom industry operate in a very environmentally-friendly manner,’’ Anukam said.
However, Fidelis Onah, Director, Technical Standard and Network Integrity of the Nigerian Communications Commission, faulted the assertions made by the stakeholders, saying mounting telecommunications masts close to buildings have no health implications.
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