Inter-ministerial group prepares draft guidelines on cell phone and tower radiation

The government has come out with new guidelines for handset makers and telecom tower manufacturers with health concerns being voiced over radiation from cell phone towers and devices. The guidelines follow a World Health Organisation (WHO) report pointing to radiation from cell phone towers and devices being a potential cancer risk.

In August 2010, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) set up an inter-ministerial group, which has submitted its final report on the new regulations.

Mobile handsets, the group says, would now have to declare radiation levels and it has also proposed revising the radiation limit of 2 watts per kg averaged over 10 gm tissue to 1.6 watts per kg averaged over 1 gm tissue.

The group has also suggested stricter radiation norms for mobile towers, shifting from the current range of 'safe power density' of f/200 watts per square meter (ICNIRP guidelines) to f/2000 watts per square meter.

Union minister of state for communications and information technology Sachin Pilot said in an official release that while telecom was a huge success story in India, any possible health related effects of radiation emitted by mobile phones and towers need to be addressed in the guidelines.
 
The final guidelines would consider the best global benchmarks and scientific evidence on the subject he said. He added that the government had been sensitive to the issue of possible health-related effects of radiation emissions from mobile towers and phones.

Meanwhile, the government has announced amendments to the Access Service Licences mandating self-certification of radiation levels of towers. The radiation levels would have to comply with WHO-endorsed guidelines of International Commission for Non-ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and non-compliance would attract a penalty of Rs5 lakh.

According to the government, as of 31 March 2011, 5.88 lakh out of 6.05 lakh base stations had been self-certified.

The inter-ministerial group comprised experts from the department of telecom, ministry of health, department of biotechnology, ministry of environment and forests and the Indian Council of Medical Research.