Majid Kapra | Agence India Press |August 5, 2009 

Srinagar: Following the increase in the use of wireless mobile telephony throughout the world, the health concerns surrounding its usage is being debated and discussed.

Mobile phones use electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range, and some researchers believe this may be harmful to human health. Concerns about effects on health have also been raised regarding other digital wireless systems, such as data communication networks.

The World Health Organization, based upon the consensus view of the scientific and medical communities, states that cancer is unlikely to be caused by cellular phones or their base stations and that reviews have found no convincing evidence for other health effects.

The WHO expects to make recommendations about mobile phones in October 2009 as some national radiation advisory authorities have recommended measures to minimize exposure to their citizens.

Many scientific studies have investigated possible health effects of mobile phone radiations. These studies are occasionally reviewed by some scientific committees to assess overall risks. The most recent assessment was published in 2007 by the European Commission Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR). It concludes from the available research that no significant health effect has been demonstrated from mobile phone radiation at normal exposure levels: Normal exposure to mobile phone radiation cannot cause headaches or dizziness, nor can it cause brain cancers, neurological effects or reproductive effects.

A few inconclusive studies suggest that it may cause a benign tumour of the auditory nerve. However, more studies concerning potential health effects on children are needed. Blood-brain barrier effects

Swedish researchers from Lund University (Salford, Brun, Perrson, Eberhardt, and Malmgren) have studied the effects of microwave radiation on the rat brain. They found a leakage of albumin into the brain via a permeated blood-brain barrier. Other groups have not confirmed these findings in cell or animal studies. Sleep, EEG and waking rCBF have been studied in relation to RF exposure for a decade now, and the majority of papers published to date have found some form of effect. Whilst a Finnish study failed to find any effect on sleep or other cognitive function from pulsed RF exposure, most other papers have found significant effects on sleep. Two of these papers found the effect was only present when the exposure was pulsed (amplitude modulated), and one early paper actually found that sleep quality (measured by the amount of participants' broken sleep) actually improved.

Ring tones and alarms could also be confused with sounds from medical equipment. Their electromagnetic signals could also interfere with medical devices, even in stand-by mode. However, this potential interference may only be significant in intensive care and NICU.