The Centre has accepted an inter-ministerial committee report on radiation from mobile phones and has issued a directive regarding Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) of mobile phones, for compliance on or before September 1.
As per the directive, all mobile phones sold in India should comply with the relevant standards.
Those manufactured in India or imported from other countries should be checked for compliance with the SAR limit, which indicates the amount of radio frequency energy absorbed by the body when using a cellphone.
In the US and in European countries, it was mandatory that all mobile phone manufacturers complied with the SAR limit.
The petitioner contended that no such guideline on displaying radiation tags on mobile phones was in force in India and hence requested the NHRC to direct the government to frame a national policy on mobile phone use, based on international research.
Subsequently, the inter-ministerial committee was formed and its members have been monitoring the radiation from mobile phones on human health. The panel later observed that the scientific research carried out could not find any direct link between mobile phone radiation and health issues.
In its report, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology informed the NHRC that there was no conclusive scientific evidence on adverse effects of mobile radiation. However, as a precautionary measure, the committee recommended lowering of exposure limit of base station emission level and SAR level for handsets.