'India has toughest cell phone tower radiation norms'

The exponential growth in mobile services has led to the proliferation of BTS

India has one of the toughest Electro Magnetic Field (EMF) radiation standards for mobile towers and handsets in the world.

The country has adopted strict limit for radiation from Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), which is 1/10th of the International Commission for Non Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) norms.

In India, there are about 12 telecom operators servicing 950 million subscribers, of which 75 million subscribers belong to Uttar Pradesh (East) circle alone.

This exponential growth in mobile services has led to the proliferation of BTS. As a result, there is an increase in the population exposure to the EMF radiation produced by BTS and mobile handsets.

Earlier, India had not adopted standards with regards to exposure to EMF radiation. However in 2008, responding to growing public concern, the department of telecommunication prescribed norms for EMF radiation from mobile towers and limits thereof as per the internationally accepted ICNIPR standards.

“However, EMF radiation from mobile handsets and BTSs are found at relatively lower end of electromagnetic spectrum and are non ionizing radiation i.e. the energy carried by them are unable to break chemical bond in molecules,” Mahidhar Pant, Deputy Director General, Telecom Enforcement Resource & Monitoring Cell, union ministry of communication & IT, said.

He was speaking on a ‘Workshop on Mobile Towers – Myth & Reality’ organized by IIT Roorkee Alumni Association here.

Recognised by World Health Organization (WHO), ICNIRP is a non- government organisation (NGO) that evaluates scientific results from across the world and produces guidelines recommending limits on exposure.

The workshop was aimed at demystifying the concept of radiation by mobile towers and to discuss various studies/researches in the context of India, which is one of the fastest growing telephony markets.