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| Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu |
THE Minister of Heath, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu has said
electromagnetic fields are unavoidable part of the environment despite its side
effect on human health, just as his counterpart in Communications Technology,
Mrs. Omobola Johnson has warned on length of calls, advising on use of
hands-free.
Speaking at the first-ever West African Conference on
Electromagnetic Field Exposure and Health in Lagos recently, the minister
through his representative, Dr. Mrs. Patience Osinubi, the national
coordinator, National Cancer Control Programme in the ministry, said the
magnetic field component of electromagnetic field has the capability to
penetrate the body.
This, he said, has been studied in correlation with health
especially in the area of cancer related diseases.
He affirmed there is an increase in the number of
communication masts in urban areas which give rise to the concern of whether
people living near high tension wires or communication masts are at a higher
risk of developing cancer.
The reason for the fear, the ministry noted is as a result
of research findings which some asserted a possible association between living
close to high tension cables and cancer of the blood as well as leukaemia in
children while some other findings said there is no association with limited
evidence to back up their stands.
Although studies carried out on electrical occupation, power
station operators and telephone line operators have proved that people in those
set of occupations have a higher risk of brain tumor, leukaemia and male breast
cancer than expected.
Prof. Chukwu further expressed his ministry’s readiness to
partner with any ministry in terms of research.
In her address to the two-day conference, Communications
Technology minister, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, who was represented by the Executive
Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Hon. Okechukwu Itanyi, emphasised the
importance of consistently conducting researches and communicate same to the
end-users.
She also noted that mobile phones usually are known for
low-powered radiofrequency transmitters, operating at frequencies between 450
and 2700 Mega hertz (MHz) with peak powers in the range of 0.1 to 2 watts.
She explained that handset only transmits power when it is
turned on, hence the radiofrequency exposure to a user, maintaining that the
radiofrequency falls off rapidly with increasing distance from the handset.
“A person using a mobile phone 30-40 centimeters away from
his or her body, for instance when text messaging, accessing the internet or
using a hands-free device, will therefore have a much lower exposure to
radiofrequency fields than someone holding the handset against the ear,” she
said, stressing that users of mobile could do well by reducing the number of
minutes or length of calls.
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