Recently World Health Organization released a study which showed that Mobile phone radiation levels increased the risks of having Brain Tumour. Although, this report has been squashed by Mobile manufacturers and Cellular Associations, it has raised some serious red flags among consumers as well various Government bodies.
India has a huge mobile market, second only to China – If the WHO study has even some truth in it, it is case of serious concern for Indians. Additionally, India has some of the most relaxed norms in the world, when it comes to handset radiation levels.
It is quite surprising that even though the mobile revolution started more than a decade back (even earlier globaly), this particular aspect has never really raised much alarm. It is for the first time, that authorities talking about it quite seriously.
Indian Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Shri. Sachin Pilot recently announced some very strict measure to ensure that consumers are aware of the mobile radiation related health issues.
In a recent announcement, following recommendations have been made for Mobile Handsets & Cellular Towers:
Recommendations for Mobile Handsets:
- The Group has proposed revising the limit of 2 watts per kilogram averaged over 10 grams tissue to 1.6 watts per kilogram averaged over 1 gram tissue.
- Mandatory declaration of radiation level on each mobile handset.
Recommendations for Mobile Towers:
- Radiation norms which are ten times as strict as the existing ones- from f/200 watts per square meter to f/2000 watts per square meter have been recommended.
- Earlier, necessary amendments were carried out in the Access Service Licenses in 2008 mandating self-certification radiation levels of towers to ensure compliance with WHO-endorsed guidelines of International Commission for Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) adopted by India Each instance of non-compliance carries a penalty of Rs.5 lakhs.
I tried to find the Mobile handsets with highest radiation levels (partially because I wanted to see if my handset was on the list!) and here are those:
Top 20 highest-radiation cell phones
|
Rank
|
Model | SAR* (digital) |
| 1 | Motorola Bravo | 1.59 |
| 2 | Motorola Droid 2 Global | 1.58 |
| 3 | Sony Ericsson Satio (Idou) | 1.56 |
| 4 | Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro | 1.55 |
| 4a | Kyocera Jax S1300 | 1.55 |
| 6 | Motorola i335 | 1.53 |
| 7 | Nokia Astound | 1.53 |
| 8 | Motorola Defy | 1.52 |
| 8a | Motorola Grasp | 1.52 |
| 8b | ZTE Salute | 1.52 |
| 11 | LG Rumor 2 | 1.51 |
| 12 | Motorola Droid | 1.49 |
| 12a | Sanyo Vero | 1.49 |
| 12b | Motorola Droid 2 | 1.49 |
| 15 | HTC Desire | 1.48 |
| 16 | LG Chocolate Touch | 1.47 |
| 16a | Motorola Atrix 4G | 1.47 |
| 18 | Kyocera Wild Card M1000 | 1.46 |
| 19 | Kyocera X-tc | 1.45 |
| 20 | Motorola i576 | 1.45 |
[source] * SAR = Specific Absorption rate
Motorola seems to be the main culprit when it comes to high radiation levels with 9 out of top 20 handsets being Motorola.
Also, if you are one of those Chinese phone users – you have to be more careful, as they are known to have much higher radiation levels than branded Mobile handsets!