THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a) & (b) Madam, Government on 24.08.2010, had constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) consisting of officers from Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Indian Council of Medical Research (Ministry of Health), Department of Biotechnology and Ministry of Environment and Forest to examine the effect of Electro Magnetic Field (EMF) Radiation from base stations and mobile phones. The Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) in its report, has examined the environmental and health related concerns and has indicated that most of the laboratory studies were unable to find a direct link between exposure to radio frequency radiation and health; and the scientific studies as yet have not been able to confirm a cause and effect relationship between radio frequency radiation and health. The effect of emission from cell phone towers on human health is not known yet with certainty.
In addition, the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) under Department of Science and Technology (Govt of India) has constituted an Expert Committee/Task Force comprising of various experts from Medical & Engineering Institutes to evaluate, R&D proposal to study possible impact of EMF radiation exposure from mobile towers and handsets in the non-ionizing band (300MHZ to 3 GHZ) on life. i.e. Humans, Living Organisms, Flora & Fauna and Environment. The Committee has short listed research proposals for further consideration which will be supported for funding in campaign mode.
Further, World Health Organization (WHO) in its Fact Sheet No. 304, May 2006 on Electro Magnetic Fields (EMF) and Public Health (Base Stations and Wireless Technologies) has concluded that “considering the very low exposure levels and research results collected to date, there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak Radio Frequency (RF) Signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects.” “From all evidence accumulated so far, no adverse short or long term health effects have been shown to occur from the RF Signals produced by base stations (mobile phone towers)”. Further, WHO has referred to approximately 25,000 articles published around the world over past 30 years, and based on an in-depth review of scientific literature, has concluded: “current evidence does not confirm the existence of any health consequences from exposure to EMF radiation”
(c)&(d) No, Madam. The main conclusion from the WHO reviews is that EMF exposures below the limits recommended in the International Commission on Non Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) international guidelines do not appear to have any known consequence on health. If the EMF radiations from mobile tower(s) are below the prescribed limits, such mobile towers do not pose any health risk. In India norms for exposure limit for the Radio Frequency Field (Base Station Emissions) are already 1/10th (10 times stricter) of the safe limits prescribed by ICNIRP and recommended by WHO. Keeping the precautionary EMF safe exposure limits for the Radio Frequency Field (Base Station Emissions) as 1/10th of the safe limits prescribed by ICNIRP for all areas in India, eliminates the need of separate treatment of specific areas like schools, hospitals, residential premises and children playgrounds; a segregation of which is impractical in densely populated localities.
(e) Yes, Madam. Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) a wing of DoT is carrying out a pilot project on EMF web portal for implementation of online database for Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) of Base Transceiver Station (BTS). The pilot trial of web portal is being conducted in three circles Mumbai, Haryana, Karnataka and the city of Hyderabad.
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