On the back of World Health Organisation cautioning that radiation from mobile phones could cause cancer in humans, an Inter Ministerial Group, set up by the Department of Telecommunications, has recommended reduction in the radiation levels of mobiles in the country.
The committee was set up in August 2010 to evaluate the evidence, revisit radiation guidelines for mobile towers and adopt guidelines for radiation emission by cell phones.
This group had experts from Department of Telecom, Ministry of Health, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Environment & Forests and Indian Council of Medical Research.
Currently, maximum permissible SAR value, as per the Indian guidelines, is 2 Watt per kg (of user’s body mass), and the committee recommends that this be lowered to 1.6 Watt per kg, as prescribed by the Federal Communication Commission of USA.
SA R or specific absorption ratio level, determines the level of radiation that a phone emits and the lower the level the better it is. SAR is a value that corresponds to the rate at which radio waves are absorbed by the body of a person using a wireless handset.
Manufacturers will also have to mandatorily declare radiation level on each mobile handset, which help people compare phones based on their SAR value and therefore induce competition amongst manufacturers to reduce radiation levels.
Although these recommendations came in February, it was placed on the internet for public comments and suggestions, and now the final report is ready and with the government, this was announced by the State minister for Telecom, Sachin Pilot.
WHO (World Health Organisation), though cautioned about mobile radiations’ cancerous effects, said that there is no provable link between human health and mobile, but many organisations have come out recently with studies that have proved adverse effect on mental and physical health of not just humans but also birds and bees.