Addressing the audience at a conference on ?Ensuring Public Health and Safety in the Mobile Industry? organised by ASSOCHAM, Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications and IT, said that public health and safety is an exceptionally important subject and the government will ensure that electro-magnetic radiation from mobile phones and towers across the country is within prescribed limits.
He added, ?Science and technology offer new hazards and solutions that throw up a constant conflict between two public interests. But human health is fundamental and should be placed two steps ahead of scientific solutions.?
Sibal said that the government had recently set up an inter-ministerial committee which concluded that emissions from base transceiver stations (BTSs) are one-hundredth of prescribed limits, and hence safe for human beings. ?We will soon be conducting online checks on BTS stations to ensure that there is no danger emitting from BTS towers.?
T.V. Ramachandran, chairman of ASSOCHAM committee on communications convergence, added that the explosive growth of telephony in India has led to 900 million subscribers and 0.5 million cell phone towers.
?The industry believes in an effective system on health information and communication designed in consensus by scientists, government, industry and public to raise the level of general understanding about the mobile communications industry, and reduce any mistrust and perceived fears?, he said.
