Bangalore: Former WHO expert on electromagnetic fields Prof. Michael Repacholi on Monday released a book titled “Mobile Phones and Public Health – Myths and Reality”. It covers articles of eminent scientists and doctors on concerns of public health arising from mobile towers and handsets.

Published by New Delhi based Har-Anand Publications, the book  edited by Mr Ravi V.S. Prasad dispels the notion that mobile phone use causes health risks.

Prof. Repacholi, who was the Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) project coordinator for the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, high quality studies have not established that use of mobile phones or mobile towers causes any health risks.

“From all the high quality studies that have been published and the reviews of all the studies by international and national public health authorities, it can be safely concluded that it has not been established that mobile phone use causes or is associated with any health risks,” he said at the launch of the book.

“WHO has recommended more research related to the possible effects of RF (Radio Frequency) fields on people and some studies have already been completed showing no effect of mobile phone use on human health,” he added.

Prof. Repacholi is also the former chairman of Germany-based International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and a contributor of the book.

The book contains articles from well-known scientific writers like Prof. Vasant Natarajan, Prof. Susanta Sen, Dr. KS Parthasarathy, Dr. Jack Rowley and Dr. Bhavin Jankharia amongst others.

Mr. Ravi V.S.Prasad is the editor of this book. He holds advanced degrees in engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in USA and Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.He is a consultant and columnist in telecommunications and information technology in India.

“Scientific studies from all over the world have failed to prove any adverse effects from use of mobile phones and towers. Their energy emissions are one-thousandth of the energy from sunlight, and so can’t impact on health.

Further, Indian Standards are ten times more stringent than the already strict international norms, which in turn are one- fiftieth of the level at which there can be any impact of health. It is most unfortunate that alarmist reports have appeared in the mass media, which are not based on any medical or scientific facts. Both World Health Organization (WHO) and Delhi Medical Association have stated that there are no adverse health effects”, stated Mr. Prasad.

Chairman of Har-Anand Publications Mr. Narendra Kumar said: “We are a publishing house   with contemporary issues at our heart and we recognise a book must give insight to the issues of concern to people at large. Mobile Phones and Public Health – Myths and Reality is one such step in this direction”.

Source : Louis Rozario