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Over twenty minutes of contact between the human ear and mobile phone while on a call can lead to a 2 degree increase in the temperature of blood flowing through a user's brain. Only one-fifth of the national capital lies in the radiation safe zone, but the telecom lobby in India still feels that all is well.

The fear of possible ill-effects of electromagnetic frequency (EMF) radiation from cell phones and towers on human life has begun haunting the Indian mobile consumers. As the Indian telcos refuse to accept that there can be any adverse effect of these radiations, the mobile service users are lost in lurch exploring solutions that could guard them. There are a range of products in the market that claim to be anti-radiation, powered to repel these effects; but there are few takers for these solutions.

Experts say that the market for these products is equivalent to the Indian mobile subscriber base-about 600 mn units. This perhaps could be a business opportunity which the telecom equipment makers have not explored yet.

The matter about the EMF radiation from tower and cellphones is split between two broad groups. One is the strong lobby of the telecommunications industry. The Cellular Operators Association of India has gone on record saying that the base stations have no health hazards. On the other end are the people who claim to have suffered medical problems due to prolonged exposure to electromagnetic radiations from the cell towers; and the anti radiation product manufacturers who say that the human health could be under serious threat due to these radiations.

Products
The verdict on radiation impact may not be out, but there are reports and case studies that tell mobile radiation can do quite a lot. About a third of Sweden's population is electro-sensitive; one of the reasons for this is said to be the long term exposure to EMF radiating products, including mobile phones.

IIT Mumbai professor, Girish Kumar, an electromagnetic expert has invented a product called Radiationshield. The product is claimed to be capable of reducing the effect by 70% to 90% and comes with a five year exchange warranty. The professor is set to file a patent for his innovation which he came up with in 2008.

The professor explains that the device consists of two orthogonally polarized broadband antennas capable of covering the frequency range between 800 MHz and 4.0 GHz. The antennae receives radiation from all sources such as cell phones, mobile phone towers, wireless phones, computers, laptops, microwave ovens, 3G and WiMax systems and converts it into heat energy. A light emitting diode (LED) has also been included on the shield that glows without a battery when brought near a mobile phone or a cell tower, indicating the power of the radiation.

The technology has now been transferred to the Indian manufacturer, RS Equipment which is now undertaking the mass production of the product that is available in two models. One that can be kept on the desktop and the other which can be carried in the pocket. The desktop model costs about Rs 1,449 and the other one is a thin low cost option priced at Rs 720.

However, according to Kumar only 1,000 units of the shield have been sold so far. There are other products in the market for much lesser amount varying between Rs 250 to Rs 400. These are the anti-radiation chips that can be stuck on the handsets to absorb radiation.

Indian Scenario
“In India, as of now it is the consumer who shoulders the lone responsibility of guarding himself against the radiation. There is no awareness generated either from the government's or the telecom regulator's end. These companies that produce such anti-radiation solutions are very small and can spend little on marketing the products; thus, these products can only be sold through the word of mouth publicity,” professor says.

Kumar, who designs antennae for leading operators in the country, has discussed about the radiation impact and the solutions with service providers, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and Telecom Engineering Center (TEC). But, talks have not yielded any result.

Dr Krishnamurthy Kannan is the CEO of Chennai based Portoworld that offers import-export and domestic support services to the business community across the world and India in particular. Krishnamurthy's company also manufactures a product called Radisafe, an anti-radiation chip that can be stuck to the handset to absorb radiation.

Radisafe is a year and a half old product. Portoworld exports these chips to fifteen countries, but India has been the most negative in responding to these radiation harmonizing products.

“Cellular operators have a strong lobby and they will never admit the severity of the condition. In India, prevention does not work. Your ear must bleed, only then will a solution be thought of,” says Dr Krishnamurthy, adding that the company sells about 40,000 units of Radisafe per month which is too low a number to cover the cellular subscriber base in India.

Such anti-radiation products in India are being manufactured by either very small companies or being imported.

NK Goyal, chairman, Telecom Equipment Manufacturers' Association says, “These products are nothing but an eyewash, a way to fool the consumers. These products may make tall claims, but they have low credibility. They do not bear certification from agencies such as the Telecom Engineering Center (TEC).”

In case of handsets, the amount of radiation absorbed by body while using a cellphone can be measured by SAR (specific absorption rate) calculated in watts per kilogram (W/kg). Higher the SAR rating, more the radiation absorbed.

The telecom lobby vehemently opposes the proposal to specify SAR levels of the handsets to the consumers.

The Trai has proposed radiation exposure limits for mobile phone towers. Also, a committee of the TEC-the technical arm of the DoT-has been set up to study issues related to the implementation of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines in India.

The effectivity and credibility of these products may be dubious, the agencies like the TEC should should

Heena Jhingan
heenaj@cybermedia.co.in

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