A study to assess the adverse effects of mobile phone radiation on human health by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) which was intended to be wrapped up in five years is stuck, with the to
A study to assess the adverse effects of mobile phone radiation on human health by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) which was intended to be wrapped up in five years is stuck, with the top research body yet to enrol subjects for the research.
The study, being conducted at a cost of Rs 2 crore per year, was initiated in 2010. The study was initiated following the directions of the health ministry after a petition was filed by the National Human Rights Commission highlighting alleged failure of the government in protecting the health of the citizens residing in the vicinity of mobile towers. With an aim to find the correlation between radio frequency radiation emitted by cellphones and relay towers and human health, it was decided to conduct the study. “This is a very comprehensive and laborious study and is still going on. It was initiated in 2010 and we wanted to complete it in five years,” a senior ICMR official said.
He said that the major challenge in the research is to meet the conditions for subject selection in the target population. “The conditions for subject selection are very stringent. For instance, people who are residing near or whose offices are close to cellphone towers cannot be enrolled, even the people who are working in offices where their wi-fi source is within a distance of 10 metres cannot be registered,” he added.
