India to adhere global benchmarks for cell phones radiation

NEW DELHI: Amid concerns over likely health hazards due to radiations emitting from mobile phones and towers, the government today assured that India would adhere to best global and scientific benchmarks while drafting the final guidelines in the telecom sector.

The government's reaction comes in the backdrop of a latest WHO report which says cellphone use can possibly cause brain cancer.

"While telecom is a huge success story in India, we have to ensure that any possible health related effects of radiation emitted by mobile phones and towers are reflected in the guidelines.

"The final guidelines would take into account the best global benchmarks and scientific evidence on the subject," Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sachin Pilot told PTI.

The government in August last year, had set up an inter- ministerial group to evaluate the evidence, re-visit radiation guidelines for mobile towers and adopt guidelines for radiation emission by cell phones.

The group had made it mandatory for cellphone manufacturers to declare the radiation level of each mobile handset on the packet itself.

For mobile towers, the group proposed that radiation norms should be ten times as strict as the existing ones- from f/200 watts per square meter to f/2000 watts per square meter.

Uptill March 31 this year, 5,88,645 out of 6,05,859 base stations had been self-certified.

The group had experts from Department of Telecom, Ministry of Health, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Environment and Forests and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The report is currently under the consideration of Department of Telecom.