Data traffic ups radiation exposure from smartphones: Expert

This is not a good news for the smartphone lovers. An expert has said that the radiation exposure from smartphones is much higher because of data traffic.

"Smartphone radiation exposures are much higher because of the data traffic. Even though one may not be using the phone all the time, there is continuous data flowing from Facebook and other apps such as weather, news update and so on that people have on their phones," Dariusz Leszczynski said.

The member of the expert committee at World Health Organization/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), 2011, was speaking at an event here Monday evening.

Speaking about "Mobile tower and cell phone radiation - its threat and perception" at India International Centre (IIC) organised by Syenergy Environics, Leszcznski said there was lot of "misinformation" about health risk of cellphone radiation.

"I was a part of the 31 scientists committee (IARC) constituted by the WHO and 26 scientists among them classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B), causing brain cancer with its long term use," he said.

Urging people to not talk on phone for more than half an hour in day, he also discouraged them from keeping phones closer to the body.

"It is very important that safety standards are revised and users should be informed of current scientific uncertainty and better research needed in this field," added Leszcznski.

According to the expert, "current safety standards are insufficient".

"India needs to change and position the towers in places which are inaccessible to people and check the emission levels," he said.

Reiterating the expert view, Ajay Poddar, managing director of Syenergy Environics, said that the telecom industry has to be responsive to people's concern about health and should indulge in research.