KAMPALA – To ensure strong connectivity and clearer reception of signal from one end to another, mast stations are installed and put in place. Many people have been debating about the potential harm that telecom masts may cause to human beings. Due to the growing demand for Telcom companies to have connectivity across the country, some telecom masts have been placed in many places including on top of buildings, in major towns, cities and residential areas. It is also important to note that, due to increase in urban population, people have built residential houses close to existing masts. Whatever case may be, masts in residential areas have become a threat to human beings. There is strong fear due to potential long-term harm /dangers residents think about. However, the telecom companies insist there is no scientific evidence to back up the worries but still many scholars and scientists have written about the dangers of Telcom masts with proven scientific experience and exposure.
Personally, am on a WhatsApp group code named, Legal Strategy against the Mast. The fiasco started a year ago when ATC acquired a piece of land located in the residential rea to set up a Telcom Mast. This is on lumuli hill side opposite St Mary’s Kitende– Kajjansi off Entebbe Road. The process of setting up a mast caused anxiety and fear as residents contributed money to hire a lawyer and stop putting up the telecom mast in vain. The community put pressure on the land owner but still they could not resist the huge payments for the land acquisition. All sorts of controversy came up and finally the mast was set up. ATC, the telecom mast service provider claimed that the construction was cleared by NEMA and UCC and therefore the locals did not have any scientific evidence against setting up the mast in aresidential area and actually there are two Telcom masts in the same residential area. It is a do or die business, as land owners cannot resist huge sums of money despite resistance from residents. A similar case happened In Mbarara where my brother who was supported by area residents fought an endless battle against setting up a mast in a residential area. The only worry was that Masts affect men’s fertility due to radiation in a long term and in desperate situations people have shifted to safer areas. In another worrying situation, telecom masts are supported by huge diesel generators that causes noise pollution and vibration that affect residents.
The World Health Organization (WHO) gives a big warning thata telecommunication (telecom) mast should be located at least 10-metre radius away from residential quarters. Yet, in Uganda many landlords have let out their pieces of land for erection of telecom masts near residential and educational facilities without thinking of the health hazards that may arise. On their part, telecom firms callously capitalize on the people’s naivety to send them to their early graves (All Africa, 2012).
According to scientific reports, some ailments are caused by radiation or emission of electromagnetic impulses from a telecom mast erected close to residential premises. These killer-masts transmit poisonous gases that impair the immune system and human neurological functions. Frequent and close contacts with these radioactive substances could hamper memory and sleep patterns, causing brain tumors, cancers and Alzheimer’s disease (loss of memory and ability to speak clearly in older people). The radiation impacts on fertility and metabolism and can cause depression and fatigue. Other diseases, likeleukemia, cancer, depression, lymphoma, neutropenia, lymphocytosis and platelet, result from hoisting telecom masts within 10 meters radius to human habitation. Children suffer memory loss, dizziness and bleeding from the nose. Consequently, domestic animals have been wiped out and families are at the verge of extinction in some cases. This growing wrong practice is further compounded by environmental risks associated with cracks of the walls of houses located close to the masts due to vibration from the generating plants that power the system. It has seen observed in Uganda that MTN has erected masts in residential areas more than other network service providers which may be as a result of long period of operation, wider connectivity and need to improve quality of services.
Telecom companies should must have a cause for co-existence and do business with self-regulation and therefore, telecom companies must strive to diminish the effects of such radiation on the people in the community. That is why for one, the mastsmust be erected so high, at least 20 meters high and at this level, damage to the health status of the people of the community is much reduced. But still with the roll out of 5G, the exclusion zones must be expanded significantly as the range of potentially dangerous radio waves is far greater than for 4G. Although guidelines for these exclusion zones are set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation (ICNIRP), the mast operators are only required to self-certificate compliance when they make a planning application and the government should require operators to give details of zones to those they affect.Uganda Telecommunications Commissions (UCC) says, telecom masts are built following National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) approval and that they operate at low power, produce low electromagnetic fields exposure levels in public areas and are specifically designed for the environment they are located in. Typically, base stations (masts) installed on the masts or rooftops are expected to operate within limits of exposure established by recognized bodies of scientists like the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection. However, radiation dramatically and rapidlydecreases as distances increase from the mast. Thus, at 10 meters away, the dose is 0.1% that of 1-metre distance, and at 20 meters away, the dose is 0.0125% that of 1- metre distance. It is difficult to prove liability by affected people since the damage on human health is long term say 15-20 years.
From my reader, hello Denis my name is Olive K. I have no Expertise in this field but what bothers me is perhaps less threatening, but oh so offensive. The telecom companies have turned our residential areas into favelas, every corner hasnumerous poles with an endless sea of wires – Spider webs on a massive scale! This makes a basis of my next article.
Finally, increasing connectivity and erection of telecom Masts is inevitable. It is recommended that, telecom companies should take a leverage from site sharing” or “collocation” as this will reduce fragmented Telcom masts in residential areas but still, recommended distance and other environmental related precautions must be given attention.
The author, Denis Tukahikaho Ph.D. is an expert on Cooperatives, Financial Inclusion and Renewable Energy Investment
