SHILLONG, July 2 � India has ten times more stricter norms on Electro Magnetic Field (EMF) radiation exposure from mobile and mobile towers than the rest of the world.
As part of the Digital India Week, Nitin Jain, Deputy Director General, Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) NE-I Circle, said, the strict norms were enforced from 2012.
These norms were put in place to be on the safer side after concerns were raised about effects of Electro Magnetic Field (EMF) radiation on human health, he said.
According to set norms in India, mobile towers can emit 0.45 watt of EMF per square metre for 900 MHz frequency. For 1800 frequency, the regulation is 0.9 per metre square and 1 watt per metre square for frequency above 2100 MHz.
The permissible EMF radiation norms in the rest of the world is ten time higher, Jain claimed. However, the World Health Organisation would bring out a crucial report in 2016 about possible effect of EMF radiation from mobile and mobile towers on human health.
WHO�s report would throw further light on prolonged exposure of EMF radiation on human health, if any, Jain said during the observation of the Week.
He said, altogether there have been 23,000 articles published on EMF radiation on health over the years, but none have said conclusively that mobile and mobile tower radiation affected human health.
But even WHO and most other reports on this debatable subject have come with phrases as �no conclusive evidence� or �no convincing scientific evidence� which keeps the debate alive and hence the continued research.
Meanwhile, there are 2076 Base Transceiver Stations on mobile towers in the State. Jain said 10 per cent of these towers are checked annually if they are violating laid norms, but so far the companies have been complying with set regulation.
In Meghalaya, Jain said, there are 1.82 million mobile phone users. The total mobile user in India at present is 973 million. The annual growth is 6.6 per cent. The density (60 per cent) of the user in Meghalaya is below the national average of 77.46 per cent.
Another issue in India is about the proximity of several mobile towers in an area, thus increasing the EMF radiation collectively.
Telecom authority therefore discourages lengthy conversation over mobile phone, using text messages instead, using headset or Bluetooth and various other precautionary measures.
