All cell-phones would soon be carrying radiation tags. All the indigenous manufacturers have been instru-cted to display Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) value on the mobile handsets on or before September 1, 2012.
The minister of state for communications and information technology Milind Deora said the telecom department has adopted SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) level for mobile handsets as 1.6 Watt/Kg, averaged over a mass of 1 gram of human tissue. All the indigenous manufacturers have been instructed to make necessary changes in the design, software and packaging in compliance with these instructions by September.
The minister said to regulate indigenous as well as imported mobile phones, the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) has been requested to frame standards for all mobile phones under the BIS Act 1986.
All cell phone handsets sold in the Indian market will have to comply with the relevant Bureau of Indian Standard’s (BIS) benchmark.
Earlier an inter-ministerial committee (IMC) had recommended that the maximum level of radiation which a mobile phone could emit in India should be further tightened to the US standards.
India has been following standards set by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection. IMC had said that tightening in the emission norm was needed as the body mass index and the fat content of an average Indian is lower than the Europeans.
“Indians are more susceptible towards the electromagnetic radiation,” it had said. IMC had also said that while purchasing a mobile phone people should be told that either they keep their calls short or send a text message instead. 'This advice is more applicable on children,” it added.