Should mobile phones, like cigarette boxes, have to carry a warning about their harmful health effects? That seems to be what the Indian government wants.
- Jagadeesh NV/European Pressphoto Agency
- The government says that it is sensitive to the health-related problems of radiation emitted by mobile phones and towers.
According to a press release issued Sunday, a committee set up to formulate guidelines on radiation has required mandatory declaration of radiation levels on every handset. This recommendation, along with others, is now being looked at by the Department of Telecom.
Also in the press release, Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, Sachin Pilot, said the government is sensitive to the health-related problems of radiation emitted by mobile phones and towers.
The committee's recommendations follow a report last week by the World Health Organization that said radio waves emitted by mobile phones may increase the risk of a certain type of brain cancer. Calling cellphone waves "possibly carcinogenic,” WHO experts have classified them in the same risk category as lead, chloroform and coffee.
Mobile phone companies globally have decried the WHO report, saying that the results are not conclusive and that more research is needed.
A spokeswoman for Nokia India, a top handset maker in India, said that many other global studies have shown that "mobile phones operating within international exposure standards pose no adverse heal [...]
Thanks, Admin,
