What is dangerous about radiophobia? Let’s talks about cell towers in Kyrgyzstan

Answers to most well-known “shockers”.

People have approached one of mobile communication providers in Kyrgyzstan and asked for clarification regarding complaints about cell towers. It turned out that the company CEO’s office was straight under the roof where a cell tower and various transceivers had been installed.

You will learn why the company staff members are not afraid of detectors next to which they spend every day and even use some of them as office decoration. This article also contains answers to the most well-known shockers disseminated “with care” by family members and friends.

For starters, let’s recognize the fact that cell communication and mobile internet today are basic necessities which was brightly demonstrated by the recent pandemic where telecom services literarily saved us during the forced isolation. It’s no secret that, in emergencies, the lives of those affected depend on communication availability.

This was supported directly by the events in the Batken region. By the way, our mobile operators realized that and provided telecom services to the affected people free of charge even under zero balance. This helped to coordinate the efforts, reach secure places, and deliver targeted support. High-quality internet is needed for schooling, particularly in cold times and quarantines when learning is switched to online mode.

Surprisingly, there are still people who are afraid of cell towers and do their best to hinder equipment installation. This phenomenon is called radiophobia which means the fear electromagnetic interference (EMI). Radiophobia is also peculiar of some people in Kyrgyzstan although the number of cell communication users with access to internet has exceeded 7.4 million.

Importantly, required EMI limits are hundred times as stringent in Kyrgyzstan comparing to the US and European countries: just 10 microwatt per sq. cm in places where people can be. As a comparison, the allowed limits are tens or even hundreds of times as higher: 700 to 1,000 microwatt per sq. cm. In Kyrgyzstan, actual EMI level often does not reach the limit, like in our case, for example: two different devices showed only 0.4 microwatt per sq. cm as the maximum allowed level in recent measurements.

Unfortunately, those with radiophobia pose danger to everybody. It even comes to violence and vandalism: engineers and other technical staff have faced aggression and physical abuse, phone cables have been cut into pieces, and expensive equipment broken. What is especially sad is that acts of the radiophobia-sick may cause unavailability of communication and emergency services to some areas in emergencies.

Once and again, people feared science and technology achievements such as radio, printing machines, electricity and even trains, and frightened others by shocking stories from infertility to extinction. Nevertheless, population is growing both in Kyrgyzstan and in the whole world, and life expectancy and quality rising.

Let’s investigate the most popular myths about 2G/3G/4G or 5G:

Immune system is affected: fake. There are no research evidences of mobile solutions being capable of having any impact on immune system. All shockers disseminated in the web have been created by charlatans.

Cell communication causes cancer: fake. Physicists explain: electromagnetic interference of any frequency is a non-ionizing radiation which does not damage DNA. Cancer can only be caused by radiation damaging DNA.

5G kills birds, causes COVID 19, cancer, infertility and other diseases: fake. Radio waves do not cause any harm to birds. According 9 grade physics we learned in school, radio waves are those of low frequency and actually cannot disturb DNA structure in a cell. A lot of researches on the impact the radio waves may have on humans and animals have been performed, but none of them found any relation between radio emission and the risk of diseases.

Let’s get back to the mobile communication provider office. We saw transceivers and people working right near them on every floor.

Every communication facility is thoroughly tested before commissioning:

1. First, an independent physical measurement lab performs EMI level preliminary estimation;

2. After that, the Disease Prevention and State Sanitary and Epidemic Oversight Department of the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic study the design;

3. The communication facility construction only starts if expert inspection is passed and relevant authorities have approved the project;

4. As construction is completed, a certified lab performs actual measurement of the cell tower’s EMI level. The cell tower can only be commissioned if complying with allowed limits.

Simultaneously with the above procedures, outreach work is performed including meetings with local residents whose household are based next to the equipment installed. Provider’s engineers visit locations together with specialists of Disease Prevention and State Sanitary and Epidemic Oversight Department of the Ministry of Health as well as the Communication Industry regulation and Oversight Service under the Ministry of Digital Development. Representatives of the independent certified and accredited physical factor measurement lab of the ARMOT LLC also visit the location. All this surely raises the local residents’ confidence.

One of such meetings with local residents took place in Bishkek suburbs, and some of them approved communication quality improvement and equipment installation. An outreach campaign targeted at the others continues.

According to the specialist Janybek Arzykulov, radiophobia may be caused by diverse factors, the most evident including lack of valid information, fake information from internet, and high anxiety. Unfortunately, radiophobia cannot be cured by medicine, only education activities may help, and this is exactly what we do, Janybek Arzykulov says.

Meanwhile, advantages of mobile solutions, whether it be 3G, 4G or, especially, 5G, for sectors such as public health and education, production and public governance including smart cities are undisputable.

Kyrgyzstan have already made a step forward and applied technological solutions for the good of society, and many issues can be addressed at a distance nowadays with a lot of time and money saved. The one thing evident is that further development of mobile technologies will give a new round of economic development and national well-being.