Electromagnetic waves create health concerns

Environmentalists have called on the government to relocate wireless internet service base stations from school campuses after they detected high readings of electromagnetic waves emitted by such stations that may be harmful to human health.

Wireless internet service stations are like high-voltage cables and cell phone base stations that emit large amounts of electromagnetic waves away from residential areas and schools, Chen Chiao-hua, a professor at Chianan University of Pharmacology and a researcher of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, said at a press conference in Taipei yesterday.

Chen said she and her colleagues from TEPU have recently taken electromagnetic radiation readings from large shopping malls, the campuses of primary schools and college campuses around the island. The results indicate that readings in some of those places are much higher than the levels that are safe, she said.

Those readings may have something to do with recent reports of school children displaying symptoms such as dizzy spells and nausea, Chen said, and added that even cases of cancer are on the rise. She said studies have shown that electromagnetic waves emitted by high-voltage cables cause leukemia, miscarriages and brain tumors.
People should not be exposed to more than 0.1mG to 0.3mG of these waves for long periods of time or their health will be compromised, medical studies show.

Current regulations state that electromagnetic waves should not exceed 833mG out of doors, an amount much higher than the 0.1mG to 0.3mG levels that a person can safely be exposed to.

She said that in places like California, regulations have been set to minimize the amount of electromagnetic waves in schools and residential areas to less than 0.1mG, but in some places in Taiwan, such as the main library on the National Taiwan University campus, the readings exceeded 900 mG.

Chen said she hopes that Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Administration will work together to adjust current regulations.

The DOH should issue warnings of how electromagnetic waves can affect people's health, Chen said, adding that the government should also establish a radiation-safety management committee to educate the public on radiation safety.
Chen Hsin-hsi, director of the information network and service center of National Taiwan University, refuted findings made public by the TEPU, saying that internet service stations are unlikely to emit high levels of electromagnetic waves like those emitted by cell phone base stations.

Chen said his center conducted its own surveys after the TEPU made public its findings, and found that the levels of electromagnetic waves emitted by Internet service stations are well below safety standards.

Chen suspected that the TEPU might have detected high levels of electromagnetic waves emitted by cell phone service providers and mistook them for being from Internet service providers.

【Taiwan News 2007/1/19】