Abdoul-Djamil Dodo²*, Séverin Mbog Mbog^1,2 and Dieudonné Bitondo^1,2

¹Quality, Health, Safety and Industrial Environment Engineering Department, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Polytechnique de Douala, Cameroon
²Energy, Materials, Modelling and Methods Laboratory, University of Douala, Cameroon

*Corresponding Author: Abdoul-Djamil Dodo, Energy, Materials, Modelling and Methods Laboratory, University of Douala, Cameroon.

Received: June 16, 2023; Published: July 06, 2023

Abstract

Telecommunications masts are a source of exposure to electromagnetic radiation. Chronic exposure to this radiation is reputed to have significant deleterious effects, which are often reversible; disabling effects from a functional point of view have also been validated by the WHO. In view of the increase in the number of mobile operators and infrastructure operators in Cameroon, compliance with the regulations governing the siting of masts is an issue. The aim of this field study was to show the health risks incurred in the city of Douala because of non-compliance with the regulations governing the siting of telecommunications masts. To do this, we used GPS applications, ARGIS 10.8 software, Google Form and Excel to collect, process and analyze data from field surveys and documentary research. We then used the "measure" tool in the ARCGIS 10.8 software to determine the distances between pylons and compare them with the regulatory value for distance between pylons. Our results show that almost 20% of the masts in our study do not comply with the minimum regulatory distance, and that 26% of the number of telecommunications masts in the city of Douala, according to data from 2022, are not compliant. Regarding the regulations on the distance between telecommunication masts, it appears that these are not really respected, which could substantially contribute to the exposure of populations to microwaves.

 Keywords: Regulatory Mapping; Pylons; Electromagnetic Radiation; Environmental Exposure

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Citation

Citation: Abdoul-Djamil Dodo., et al. “Regulatory Mapping, Risk of Exposure to Electromagnetic Radiation, Case of Douala”.Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 7.8 (2023): 52-58.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2023 Abdoul-Djamil Dodo., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.