DoT panel finds ‘bias’ in IIT prof’s alert against cell tower radiation

Fears of harmful electromagnetic radiation from cellphone towers are unfounded and have no scientific merit, an expert committee appointed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has concluded, contradicting a professor of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, who had raised alarm over the issue.

The 13-member panel rejected the contention of IIT electrical engineering professor Girish Kumar, who has repeatedly claimed that the radiation causes cancer and brain tumour. It went so far as to say that Kumar had red-flagged the issue because his daughter is in the business of manufacturing radiation-shielding products.

Kumar's daughter Neha Kumar sells radiation-shielding products through her company NESA Radiation Solutions Pvt Ltd. The panel said the IIT professor did not disclose his ''conflict of interest'' while being part of the panel.

But Kumar rejected these allegations. ''In October 2013 I disclosed my daughter's business in my newsletter, which was circulated to the committee members. What more I can do?'' he told a newspaper.

The members of the committee noted that on the one hand Kumar was spreading misinformation and creating ill-founded apprehensions in the mind of people by blowing out of proportions the effects of EMF radiation, while on the other he was promoting his family's business on related products.

The committee, comprising five IIT professors, besides scientists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Industrial Toxicology Research Centre (ITRC), Lucknow, and the Indian Council of Medical Research, along with government officials, was formed at the behest of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, which was hearing a plea on the health hazards of cellphone towers.

The court instructed Kumar to be a part of the DoT panel and share his views with the other scientists.

In its report, the panel has concluded that Kumar's assertion of people living within 50-300 m of mobile towers are more prone to the ill effects of electromagnetic radiation are not backed by ''conclusive scientific evidence''.

But Kumar argued, ''The word 'evidence' in the draft report was replaced by 'conclusive evidence' in the final report by the committe – and eight out of its 13 members are pro-DoT. On every page, I have signed that I do not agree with the report and also on the last page, I have signed that committee was biased,'' said Kumar.

(Also see: Mobile phone use does not cause cancer: Study)