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Workshop on Govt. of India guidelines on installation, and safety regime of Telecom Towers and Mobile phones

held at

Hotel Taj Gateway, Ernakulam

9th October 2014

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L-R-Mr. Rajan S Mathews-DG,COAI; Dr. Suresh Attili, MD (Int. Med), DM (Hem-Onc), PDCR, ECMO and Mr. N Reguraman, DDG,

TERM, Kochi at EMF Advocacy Workshop

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Mr. Rajan S Mathews, DG, COAI addressing the gathering at EMF Advocacy Workshop in Kochi, 9th Oct 2014

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Dr. Suresh Atilli addressing the gathering at EMF Advocacy Workshop in Kochi, 9th Oct 2014

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Publication: The New Indian Express Date: 10.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 2

Telecom towers Comply with safety norms, says TERM

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Publication: Deccan Chronicle Date: 10.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 6

Over 50pc mobile towers complaint

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Publication: Malayala Manorama Date: 10.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 15

Mobile phone tower radiation not dangerous

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Publication: Mathrubhumi Date: 10.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 11

No health risk from mobile radiation: COAI

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Publication: Deshabhimani Date: 10.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 4

No health risk from mobile radiation: COAI

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Publication: Madhyamam Date: 10.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 4

Mobile phone radiation: No cause for concern

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Publication: Mangalam Date: 10.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 8

Mobile radiation: No cause for concern say experts

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Publication: Siraj Date: 10.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 8

Mobile radiation: No cause for concern say experts

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Publication: Janmabhumi Date: 10.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 8

Mobile radiation: No cause for concern say experts

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Publication: Metro Vartha Date: 10.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 8

Mobile radiation: No cause for concern say experts

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Publication: Deepika Date: 10.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 3

Only mobile phones that pass safety standards are allowed in Indian markets

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Publication: Tejas Date: 10.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 2

Mobile radiation: No cause for concern says COAI

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Publication: The Hindu Business Line Date: 11.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 15

Drive to dispel ‘myths’ about mobile towers

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Publication: Chandrika Date: 11.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 10

Mobile radiation no cause for concern say experts

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Publication: Varthamanam Date: 11.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 10

Mobile radiation no cause for concern say experts

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Publication: Suprabatham Date: 11.10.2014 Edition: Kochi Page number: 8

COAI campaigns to dispel myths

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Website: economictimes.indiatimes.com/ Date: 10/10/2014 URL: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-10-09/news/54827520_1_electro-magnetic-field-health-fears-health-hazards Headline: Electro Magnetic Field emissions do not cause health hazards: Cellular Operators Association of India

Story: Cellular Operators Association of India, the apex body of mobile communications companies, today said the Electro Magnetic

Field (EMF) emissions from antennae on cell towers and mobile handsets do not cause any health hazards.

"India presently has 900 million mobile phone connections and more than 80 per cent of the population has access to mobile

telephony.""The growth has given rise to concerns regarding the danger to public health caused by the EMF emissions and myths have

been floated without any scientific basis," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews told reporters here.

COAI has launched a public awareness campaign, using reference books, videos and roadshows involving experts from oncology,

radioliogy, molecular and physical science and WHO to allay health fears and dipel myths surrounding mobile towers and

handsets.Titled 'Mobile Networks and Public Health' series, this is the first time eminent experts from India and world over have come

together on a common platform to dispel 'unwarranted fears' of health hazards from mobile towers and handsets, he said.

The Department of Telecom has also recognised the issue that a large section of Indian public harboured unwarrnated fears that were

not based on scientific data and facts. AVS Suresh, Oncologist from hyderabad said radio frequency signals from the base stations are

'too low' to affect health.

On reports about disappearance of sparrows and honey bees, he said there was lot of myth associated with the experiments in this

regard. Habitual change has led to fall in population of sparrows. "You require about one lakh cell towers to be placed around

sparrows for them to disapper," he said.Suresh said reports relating to cell phone radiation causing infertility were 'absolutely

baseless'. There was no established link between radiation and infertility.

Deputy DG, DOT, Reghunandan, said the Centre was committed to strictly enforcing the norms. There are 35,000 plus BTS in Kerala

of which testing has been completed on 8,000 stations, he said.

Website: newindianexpress.com

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Date: 10/10/2014 URL: http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/Telecom-Towers-Comply-with-Safety-Norms-Says-TERM/2014/10/10/article2470323.ece1 Headline: Telecom towers Comply with safety norms, says TERM

Story: The Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring Cell (TERM), which examined 8,000 of the 13,000 mobile phone towers

in the State, has found that they complied with the guidelines set by the government, said TERM Cell deputy director general

(Department of Telecommunications) V Raghunandan. He said that the inspection would continue in the coming days on a selective

basis. He was speaking at a press conference in connection with a workshop held on ‘Government of India Guidelines on Installation

and Safety Regime of Telecom Towers’, organised by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), here on Thursday.

Raghunandan pointed out that the number of mobile towers in India was likely to double from around four lakh now in five years,

with the launch of 4G service in the country. “We have conducted inspection of mobile phone towers in thickly populated areas in

Kerala. While the electro magnetic field (EMF) radiation norms stipulate a limit of 450 milliwatts/sqmeter, in Kerala the radiation

level is only 400 milliwatts/sqmeter. We will continue the examination and enforcement in the State,” he added.Raghunandan revealed

that the specific absorption rate (SAR) is a crucial element that has to be displayed on each mobile phone handset packets, and that the

country would become fully compliant in this regard in two years.

The SAR value is a measure of the rate at which energy is absorbed by the human body when exposed to a radio frequency (RF)

electromagnetic field. It is defined as the power absorbed per mass of tissue, and has the unit of ‘watts per kilogram’ (W/kg). “The

allowed SAR value is 1.6. Now, the country has around 90 crore mobile phone handsets, and almost 80 per cent of them display the

SAR on the packet. In two years, we could achieve 100 per cent compliance in this area,” he said.Speaking on the occasion

Hyderabad-based oncologist Dr A V Suresh said that there was no scientific evidence to support the argument that the use of mobile

phones and exposure to talecom towers could cause cancer.COAI director general Rajan S Mathews said that the industry was in a

crisis as people living in both rural and urban areas were protesting against mobile phone towers, saying that the towers could cause

health problems. “A number of studies have been conducted by reputed agencies, including the WHO, that rule out any connection

between cancer and mobile phone usage and exposure to mobile phone towers,” he added.

Website: http://www.communicationstoday.co.in

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Date: 10/10/2014 URL: http://www.communicationstoday.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12695&Itemid=147 Headline: Electro Magnetic Field emissions do not cause health hazards: COAI

Story: Cellular Operators Association of India, the apex body of mobile communications companies, today said the Electro Magnetic

Field (EMF) emissions from antennae on cell towers and mobile handsets do not cause any health hazards."India presently has 900

million mobile phone connections and more than 80 per cent of the population has access to mobile telephony.""The growth has given

rise to concerns regarding the danger to public health caused by the EMF emissions and myths have been floated without any

scientific basis," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews told reporters here.

COAI has launched a public awareness campaign, using reference books, videos and roadshows involving experts from oncology,

radioliogy, molecular and physical science and WHO to allay health fears and dipel myths surrounding mobile towers and handsets.

Titled 'Mobile Networks and Public Health' series, this is the first time eminent experts from India and world over have come together

on a common platform to dispel 'unwarranted fears' of health hazards from mobile towers and handsets, he said.

The Department of Telecom has also recognised the issue that a large section of Indian public harboured unwarrnated fears that were

not based on scientific data and facts. AVS Suresh, Oncologist from hyderabad said radio frequency signals from the base stations are

'too low' to affect health.

On reports about disappearance of sparrows and honey bees, he said there was lot of myth associated with the experiments in this

regard. Habitual change has led to fall in population of sparrows. "You require about one lakh cell towers to be placed around

sparrows for them to disapper," he said.

Suresh said reports relating to cell phone radiation causing infertility were 'absolutely baseless'. There was no established link between

radiation and infertility.Deputy DG, DOT, Reghunandan, said the Centre was committed to strictly enforcing the norms. There are

35,000 plus BTS in Kerala of which testing has been completed on 8,000 stations, he said.

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Website: http://zeenews.india.com Date: 09/10/2014 URL: http://zeenews.india.com/news/health/health-news/emf-emissions-do-not-cause-health-hazards-coai_1482278.html Headline: Electro Magnetic Field emissions do not cause health hazards: COAI

Story: Kochi: Cellular Operators Association of India, the apex body of mobile communications companies, today said the Electro

Magnetic Field (EMF) emissions from antennae on cell towers and mobile handsets do not cause any health hazards. "India presently

has 900 million mobile phone connections and more than 80 per cent of the population has access to mobile telephony.

"The growth has given rise to concerns regarding the danger to public health caused by the EMF emissions and myths have been

floated without any scientific basis," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews told reporters here. COAI has launched a public

awareness campaign, using reference books, videos and roadshows involving experts from oncology, radioliogy, molecular and

physical science and WHO to allay health fears and dipel myths surrounding mobile towers and handsets.

Titled 'Mobile Networks and Public Health' series, this is the first time eminent experts from India and world over have come together

on a common platform to dispel 'unwarranted fears' of health hazards from mobile towers and handsets, he said. The Department of

Telecom has also recognised the issue that a large section of Indian public harboured unwarrnated fears that were not based on

scientific data and facts. AVS Suresh, Oncologist from hyderabad said radio frequency signals from the base stations are 'too low' to

affect health.

On reports about disappearance of sparrows and honey bees, he said there was lot of myth associated with the experiments in this

regard. Habitual change has led to fall in population of sparrows. "You require about one lakh cell towers to be placed around

sparrows for them to disapper," he said. Suresh said reports relating to cell phone radiation causing infertility were 'absolutely

baseless'. There was no established link between radiation and infertility. Deputy DG, DOT, Reghunandan, said the Centre was

committed to strictly enforcing the norms. There are 35,000 plus BTS in Kerala of which testing has been completed on 8,000

stations, he said

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Website: http://emfprotectionhq.com Date: 09/10/2014 URL: http://emfprotectionhq.com/2014/10/13/emf-emissions-do-not-cause-health-hazards-coai/ Headline: Electro Magnetic Field emissions do not cause health hazards: COAI

Story: Kochi: Cellular Operators Association of India, the apex body of mobile communications companies, today said the Electro

Magnetic Field (EMF) emissions from antennae on cell towers and mobile handsets do not cause any health hazards. "India presently

has 900 million mobile phone connections and more than 80 per cent of the population has access to mobile telephony.

"The growth has given rise to concerns regarding the danger to public health caused by the EMF emissions and myths have been

floated without any scientific basis," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews told reporters here. COAI has launched a public

awareness campaign, using reference books, videos and roadshows involving experts from oncology, radioliogy, molecular and

physical science and WHO to allay health fears and dipel myths surrounding mobile towers and handsets.

Titled 'Mobile Networks and Public Health' series, this is the first time eminent experts from India and world over have come together

on a common platform to dispel 'unwarranted fears' of health hazards from mobile towers and handsets, he said. The Department of

Telecom has also recognised the issue that a large section of Indian public harboured unwarrnated fears that were not based on

scientific data and facts. AVS Suresh, Oncologist from hyderabad said radio frequency signals from the base stations are 'too low' to

affect health.

On reports about disappearance of sparrows and honey bees, he said there was lot of myth associated with the experiments in this

regard. Habitual change has led to fall in population of sparrows. "You require about one lakh cell towers to be placed around

sparrows for them to disapper," he said. Suresh said reports relating to cell phone radiation causing infertility were 'absolutely

baseless'. There was no established link between radiation and infertility. Deputy DG, DOT, Reghunandan, said the Centre was

committed to strictly enforcing the norms. There are 35,000 plus BTS in Kerala of which testing has been completed on 8,000

stations, he said

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Website: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com Date: 10/10/2014 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/states/drive-to-dispel-myths-about-mobile-phones-towers/article6489152.ece Headline: Drive to dispel ‘myths’ about mobile phones, towers

Story: “Mobile phone towers are not injurious to health.” This could be the tagline of the national campaign by the Cellular

Operators Association of India that aims to counter the “myths, lies and misinformation” about mobile-phone towers (base stations).

The campaign is trying to convince the public that lakhs of base stations that dot India’s landscape do not pose health threats to the

people. Any claim to the contrary, the campaign stresses, is unscientific, baseless and motivated. (Airtel, Idea, Vodafone, Reliance Jio,

Uninor and Videocon are some of the members of COAI).

‘Awareness campaign’

“We are trying to dispel the wrong idea in people’s minds that the mobile towers in their midst can cause a number of ailments,

including cancer,” Rajan S. Mathews, director general of COAI, said. “This is absolutely baseless.”

He said a large number of scientific studies carried out by telecom regulators and national health missions in Western countries as well

as by the World Health Organisation could not establish any link between cancer or infertility with mobile towers and mobile use.

The ‘awareness campaign’ is an upshot of the growing people’s opposition to the setting up of mobile towers in their neighbourhoods,

even as mobile phone use is leaping in the country.

This is despite the fact that there are around 100 crore mobile phones in use in the country and two-thirds of the people have access to

mobile phones. Since the number of towers does not keep pace with the hike in mobile use, the quality of service suffered.

“The opposition is mainly because of people’s baseless fear about the health impact of the towers,” said VK Cherian, senior director

of COAI. The fear was often whipped by vested interests, mainly local politicians out to gain future electoral mileage. So COAI

decided to counter the fear with scientific information, research results and government’s regulatory norms.

Workshops

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A series of awareness workshops, participated by oncologists, researchers and senior Department of Telecom officials, has been held

in major cities.

At an awareness drive in Kochi, AVS Suresh, a Hyderabad-based oncologist who has carried out a study on the impact of the electro-

magnetic field (EMF) created around a mobile tower on the health of the people living in the neighbourhood, said the claim that

emissions from the towers would cause cancer was absolutely wrong.

V Raghunandan, Deputy Director General of Telecom Enforcement, Resources and Monitoring Cell (TERM), Kerala, said the EMF

levels allowed by the DoT at the mobile towers was 450 milli watts per square metre. This was just one-tenth of the level allowed by

International Commission on Non-Ionzing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). But TERM was allowing a much lower level than the 450

milli watts. India’s safety standards of EMF were tougher than most Western countries’, he said, and added that the mobile towers

posed no health risk at all.

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Website: nextelecomindia.com Date: 09/10/2014 URL: http://nextelecomindia.com/policy/emf-emissions-from-mobile-towers-not-a-public-health-hazard-coai-says/ Headline: Electro Magnetic Field emissions do not cause health hazards: COAI

Story: Kochi: Cellular Operators Association of India, the apex body of mobile communications companies, today said the Electro

Magnetic Field (EMF) emissions from antennae on cell towers and mobile handsets do not cause any health hazards. "India presently

has 900 million mobile phone connections and more than 80 per cent of the population has access to mobile telephony.

"The growth has given rise to concerns regarding the danger to public health caused by the EMF emissions and myths have been

floated without any scientific basis," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews told reporters here. COAI has launched a public

awareness campaign, using reference books, videos and roadshows involving experts from oncology, radioliogy, molecular and

physical science and WHO to allay health fears and dipel myths surrounding mobile towers and handsets.

Titled 'Mobile Networks and Public Health' series, this is the first time eminent experts from India and world over have come together

on a common platform to dispel 'unwarranted fears' of health hazards from mobile towers and handsets, he said. The Department of

Telecom has also recognised the issue that a large section of Indian public harboured unwarrnated fears that were not based on

scientific data and facts. AVS Suresh, Oncologist from hyderabad said radio frequency signals from the base stations are 'too low' to

affect health.

On reports about disappearance of sparrows and honey bees, he said there was lot of myth associated with the experiments in this

regard. Habitual change has led to fall in population of sparrows. "You require about one lakh cell towers to be placed around

sparrows for them to disapper," he said. Suresh said reports relating to cell phone radiation causing infertility were 'absolutely

baseless'. There was no established link between radiation and infertility. Deputy DG, DOT, Reghunandan, said the Centre was

committed to strictly enforcing the norms. There are 35,000 plus BTS in Kerala of which testing has been completed on 8,000

stations, he said

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Website: http://www.tele.net.in Date: 09/10/2014 URL: http://www.tele.net.in/news/item/15799-emf-radiations-from-mobile-phones-do-not-pose-danger-to-health-says-coai Headline: Electro Magnetic Field emissions do not cause health hazards: COAI

Story: Kochi: Cellular Operators Association of India, the apex body of mobile communications companies, today said the Electro

Magnetic Field (EMF) emissions from antennae on cell towers and mobile handsets do not cause any health hazards. "India presently

has 900 million mobile phone connections and more than 80 per cent of the population has access to mobile telephony.

"The growth has given rise to concerns regarding the danger to public health caused by the EMF emissions and myths have been

floated without any scientific basis," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews told reporters here. COAI has launched a public

awareness campaign, using reference books, videos and roadshows involving experts from oncology, radioliogy, molecular and

physical science and WHO to allay health fears and dipel myths surrounding mobile towers and handsets.

Titled 'Mobile Networks and Public Health' series, this is the first time eminent experts from India and world over have come together

on a common platform to dispel 'unwarranted fears' of health hazards from mobile towers and handsets, he said. The Department of

Telecom has also recognised the issue that a large section of Indian public harboured unwarrnated fears that were not based on

scientific data and facts. AVS Suresh, Oncologist from hyderabad said radio frequency signals from the base stations are 'too low' to

affect health.

On reports about disappearance of sparrows and honey bees, he said there was lot of myth associated with the experiments in this

regard. Habitual change has led to fall in population of sparrows. "You require about one lakh cell towers to be placed around

sparrows for them to disapper," he said. Suresh said reports relating to cell phone radiation causing infertility were 'absolutely

baseless'. There was no established link between radiation and infertility. Deputy DG, DOT, Reghunandan, said the Centre was

committed to strictly enforcing the norms. There are 35,000 plus BTS in Kerala of which testing has been completed on 8,000

stations, he said