Kochi: There is no independent, reliable data on the safety of electro magnetic emissions from your mobile phone.
And if you insist on it, you would rather wait till 2020 when World Health Organisation (WHO) comes out with a report of the study it has been conducting all over the world now.
Representatives of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to GSMA to an epidemiologist, speakers at a panel discussion on the safety of mobile telephony, said no study was available to prove the impact of electromagnetic frequencies emitted by mobile phones or by the towers on human health.
Dr Rajesh Dixit, an epidemiologist with Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, said WHO was conducting a study on its impact and results were expected by 2020.
“It may not necessarily be carcinogenic but can have health risks,” he said, adding that users may take a measured approach on the use of mobile use.
Mr R K Arnold, member, TRAI, said the regulator would take a serious note of it if it was proved that the emissions could be hazardous to health.
At the same time, the nation’s development process demands that it increase connectivity, he said.
T R Dua, executive director, Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association, said India had the strictest emission norms.
However, scarcity of spectrum in India might have an impact on it, he pointed out. “Operators in most countries have a bandwidth of 40-50 MHz but in India, they get only 12 MHz, resulting in the intensity of emission to go up.”
IT principal secretary P H Kurian chaired the discussion, organised by the Cellular Operators Association of India.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who inaugurated the discussion via conference call, said that people did have doubts about the safety of emissions. “Some are genuine and some are not, and the industry must be able to clear them,” he said.
