'Radiation Hazard' From Base Stations
By Krist Boo
Singapore, 3 April 2001 -- The thousands of base stations which provide Singapore's mobile-phone coverage could be harming residents living in high-rise flats, the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) has warned.
The consumer watchdog, which has long expressed concern about the radiation emitted from mobile phones, says it has received 'enough' feedback from residents living in skyscrapers to be concerned that the antennae acting as base stations are also emitting harmful radiation.
The association wants both the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) to address the issue.
Citing one example, Mr Gary Tan, Case's investigation and research (goods) manager, said: 'There is a guy who lives in a private condominium, and since a base station was built directly above his unit, he and his family have been getting frequent headaches.
'We want the authorities to come up with a coherent position on whether there are harmful effects,' he said.
There are about 3,500 base stations in Singapore. They are usually situated on rooftops, but in places where mobile-phone use is high, such as shopping centres, they can be found on the higher floors.
Typically, the higher the number of base stations a phone operator has, the wider its network coverage.
SingTel Mobile has about 1,800 stations, while MobileOne has around 1,000 and StarHub, about 700.
All three phone operators said no conclusion had yet been drawn on the impact of base stations on people's health.
Two of them have said that emissions from base stations are lower than emissions from cell phones.
SingTel spokesman Chia Boon Chong said: 'The level of power emitted when standing about a metre behind a base-station antenna is less than one watt. This is much less than the one to two watts emitted by mobile phones.'
Yet queries on the impact of these stations are still being tossed up.
Worldwide, researchers are spending around US$100 million (S$179 million) on scrutinising the effects of radiation from both cell phones and base stations.
However, IDA spokesman Dulcie Chan said safeguards are already in place.
She said the exposure to radiation levels here was well under the levels set by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection.
She also said: 'Base stations are installed in restricted areas that are not accessible to the general public.'
The MOH has said it will have conclusive health guidelines in place by the end of next month.
The ministry's director of radiation science, Mr Stephen Chong, said he would take Case's queries to the World Health Organisation's 6th International Advisory Committee Meeting on Electromagnetic Fields.
He said: 'Case has the interest of consumers at heart, but we want action based on sound scientific principles.'
Source: The Straitstimes Interactive, Singapore
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