Mobile base stations in Taiwan pose limited health risks to people, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said Tuesday, citing recent research it commissioned amid efforts to resolve public concerns.

According to the research carried out by the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, the electromagnetic waves generated by those base stations are far lower than the international safety standard, NCC officials said in a press conference.

Kuo Wen-chung (???), a professor at the university’s Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering who led the project, said it had randomly tested 34 4G or 5G cell stations across Taiwan with an Environmental Protection Administration (EPA)-approved method.

The research found that the electromagnetic wave level they generated on average was 0.039 percent of the standard set by both the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the EPA, similar to the readings in most Western countries.

In other words, the base stations are even safer than home appliances such as electric razors and microwave ovens in terms of their electromagnetic wave emissions, according to Kuo’s team.

NCC officials also sought to ease public concerns about the increasing number of mobile bases being built, explaining that the more stations there are, the less electromagnetic waves that cell phones must generate to find signals.

In addition, with the growing prevalence of 5G users, 20,000 more mobile stations might be needed in the near future, the NCC predicted.

Taiwan currently has about 35,000 such stations, the officials said, adding that the new ones come in a relatively small size, which could be attached to traffic lights or road lights, for instance.

In recent years, many communities in Taiwan have been grappling with the dilemma of whether they want mobile base stations and their potential health risks in their areas, including those in Kaohsiung, Changhua County and Yilan County.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel