Lok Sabha Question No. 331 (STARRED), answered on 2017-08-09
Subject: Effect of Radiation from Mobile Phones
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: RAM TAHAL CHOUDHARY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.331 TO BE ANSWERED ON 9 TH  AUGUST, 2017

## EFFECT OF RADIATION FROM MOBILE PHONES

- *331. SHRI RAM TAHAL CHOUDHARY:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to  examine the effect of electric, magnetic and electro-magnetic field radiation from Base Transceiver Station and mobile phones on human health and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the said Committee has given its report to the Government;
- (c) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  major  recommendations  of  the  Committee; and
- (d) the action taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

- (a) to (d) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

Contd…2/-

## STATEMENT TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN RESPECT OF PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF  LOK  SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  331  FOR  9 TH AUGUST, 2017 REGARDING ' EFFECT OF RADIATION FROM MOBILE PHONES '.

(a) to (d) Yes, Madam. 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 was constituted on 24.08.2010 to examine the effect of 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.

Following  are  the  major  recommendations  of  the  Inter-Ministerial  Committee (IMC):

- i. Adoption of SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) level for mobile handsets limited to 1.6 Watt/Kg, averaged over a 6 minutes period and taken over a volume containing  a  mass  of  1  gram  of  human  tissue  as  per  the  FCC  (Federal Communication Commission) norms of United States.
- ii. The RF (Radio Frequency) exposure limits in India may be lowered to 1/10th of the existing level keeping in view the data submitted by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)/ Association of Unified Telecom  Service Providers of India (AUSPI) during presentation made to the committee and trend adopted by other developed countries.
- iii. DOT should create a national data base with the information of all the base station,  their  emission  levels  and  display  on  public  domain  for  public information.

Based  on  these  recommendations  following  actions  have  been  taken  by Department of Telecommunications (DoT):

- i. Norms  for  exposure  limit  for  the  Radio  Frequency  Field  (Base  Station Emissions) has been made stringent and reduced to 1/10th of the existing limits  prescribed  by  International  Commission  on  Non  Ionizing  Radiation Protection  (ICNIRP).    The  present  Electro  Magnetic  Frequency  (EMF) exposure limits as laid down for Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) are as follows:

| Frequency Range   | E-Field Strength (Volt/Meter)   | H-Field Strength (Amp/Meter)   | Power Density (Watt/Sq.Meter)   |
|-------------------|---------------------------------|--------------------------------|---------------------------------|
| 400MHz to 2000MHz | 0.434f ½                        | 0.0011f ½                      | f/2000                          |
| 2GHz to 300GHz    | 19.29                           | 0.05                           | 1                               |

(f = frequency in MHz)

- ii. Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) level for Mobile Handset has been revised from 2 watt per Kg averaged over a mass of 10 gram human tissue to 1.6 Watt per Kg averaged over a mass of 01 gram human tissue.
- iii. DoT has launched 'Tarang Sanchar', a web portal for Information sharing on Mobile Towers and EMF Emission Compliances. Tarang-sanchar is a portal which enables anyone to view, understand and conveniently obtain information  on  the  Electro  Magnetic  Field  (EMF)  emission  levels  of  Base Transceiver  Stations  (BTSs)  of  any  technology  (2G,  3G,  and  4G)  located across India. It provides a public interface where an easy map-based search feature  has  been  provided  for  viewing  the  mobile  towers  in  vicinity  of  any locality. The information on EMF compliance status of mobile towers can be accessed by general public through this portal.  Detailed  information  about any tower site, if requested, is sent on email to the users. The portal has the complete collated  technical  details  of  over  14.5  lakh  base  stations  (BTSs) spread across the country of all technologies (2G, 3G, 4G etc.) and of all Telecom Service Providers (TSPs).

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