Residents in a northwest China city are blaming the electromagnetic radiation from a mobile telecommunications base station built close to their homes for deteriorating health.

Worsening eyesight, sore necks, insomnia and hair losses have recently become a hot topic among the nearly 100 residents of more than 60 households in Pingliang City's Kongtong District, yesterday's China Youth Daily reported.

They pin the blame on EMR from the base station for their ailments.

Those suffering the most are residents living closest to the base station, they said.

Liu Shuwen, who runs a hair salon in the neighborhood, told the newspaper that nearly all her customers complained of hair loss, including young children. She is also a victim, said the report.

Her neighbor Zhou Biying, 43, is nearly bald. Zhou and her husband, both natives of Sichuan Province, moved to the neighborhood in October 2004, attracted by the low rent, the couple told the newspaper. They plan to move out.

The base station was set up in 2002, according to Lu Xiulian, who has lived here for 20 years. The station is about 10 meters away from her house. Most of the other residents moved there after 2003.

In another area, retired medical professionals of Pingliang People's Hospital have lodged a protest over a mobile telecom base station built nearby, citing health concerns, the report said.

"We are professionals and know how EMR can harm people's health," Hao Youfu, a senior pharmacist, told the newspaper.

Hao, 76, joined a protest with more than 30 other residents against the tower in October 2008. The residents have forwarded their concerns to the city government.

Their efforts proved in vain as the tower was built only 10 meters from their homes.

Pharmacist Zhang Wei, 46, said he was suffering insomnia and hair loss.

Along with the residents' complaints, an argument is going on in the industry over the health hazards of EMR.

But it is agreed that within a safe range EMR poses no harm to people's health.

China's official radiation limit is 40 microwatts, according to Wang Yi, EMR expert with the Ministry of Environmental Protection.