Effect of Base Transceiver Station (BTS) waves on some blood factors in domestic pigeons: an experimental study

Hesam Akbari; Sanaz Khoramipour; Seyed Kamal Eshagh Hossaini; Roya Mafigholami; Behnaz Moradighiasabadi

doi:10.1007/s40201-021-00738-2

Effect of Base Transceiver Station (BTS) waves on some blood factors in domestic pigeons: an experimental study

J Environ Health Sci Eng. 2021 Oct 18;19(2):1827-1833. doi: 10.1007/s40201-021-00738-2. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Authors

Hesam Akbari¹, Sanaz Khoramipour¹, Seyed Kamal Eshagh Hossaini², Roya Mafigholami¹, Behnaz Moradighiasabadi³

Affiliations

¹ West Tehran Branch, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
² Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Hazrat-E Fateme Masoume Hospital, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.
³ Damavand Branch, Department of Environment, Islamic Azad University, Damavand, Iran.

Abstract

Purpose: BTS waves are one of the most important environmental pollutants, but there is inadequate data of its effects on living creatures. Birds have major role in environmental balance and hematologic factors are good describers of animal health. Therefore, we studied hematological factors in pigeons to assess the health effects of BTS waves in urban birds.

Methods: This experiment has been run on 120 six month-old pigeons. After adaptation to laboratory settings, they divided to six random groups of distance from BTS and daily exposure time. G1: 50 cm/30 min, G2: 100 cm/30 min daily, G3: 150 cm/30 min, G4: 50 cm/60 min, G5: 100 cm/60 min and G6: 150 cm/60 min. Daily exposure done for 30 consecutive days. Hematologic studies done before and after exposure for analysis of WBC, Neut, Mono, Lymph, RBC, Hb, HCT, MCV, MCHC and platelets. Results processed statistically by SPSS software.

Results: The results of this study showed a significant difference between the six experimental groups. The results showed distance from the BTS source had the largest effect on PLT followed by HCT, MCV, MCHC, Neut, Hb, RBC, Lymph, WBC, and Mono, respectively. Moreover, the duration of exposure to BTS wave had the largest effect on Mono followed by PLT, Neut, MCV, MCHC, WBC, HCT, Lymph, RBC and Hb, respectively.

Conclusions: Study showed that increasing exposure time and decreasing distance from the wave source have significant effect on hematologic factors. The distance has more effect than exposure time. Further investigation on protection and reducing the side effects are recommended.

Keywords: Antenna; Base Transceiver Station; Blood; Wave.