APT study on Safety Aspects of Wireless Handheld Devices EME, SAR limits, Driver safety, petrol pump

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APT study on Safety Aspects of Wireless Handheld
Devices EME, SAR limits, Driver safety, petrol
pump safety
Study Question 2.2
Mr. Wan Murdani Wan Mohamad Mr. Bharat Bhatia Mr.
Asit Kadyan
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Rapporteur and Associate Rapporteurs for the
study

• Dy. Chairman SG.2
• Mr. Wan Murdani Wan Mohamad, Multimedia Corridor,
  Malaysia
• Rapporteur
• Mr. Bharat Bhatia, Director, Motorola
• Associate Reporter
• Mr. Asit Kadyan, Telecom Engineering Centre, DOT,
  India

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Focus points of the study

• To study the current guidelines regarding Safety
  Aspects of Wireless Handheld Devices - EME, SAR
  limits, Driver safety, petrol pump safety in
  different APT member countries and to recommend
  unified guidelines in this regard
• Study and Review the current international
  guidelines on SAR limits for handheld wireless
  phones and propose regional harmonization
• Review the current practices on driver safety and
  Petrol pump safety and propose regional
  harmonization

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Work Plan

• Review all material on the internet in order to
  develop a preliminary discussion paper with a
  survey questionnaire and distribute it to all APT
  members
• Seek comments of the various agencies involved in
  this work including MMF, IDA, ACA, OFTA, etc.
• Undertake detailed study of the responses
• Develop a preliminary draft report and circulate
  for comments of APT members

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What are the safety aspects of Handheld wireless
devices

• To communicate with the network, mobile phones
  emit low levels of radio waves (also known as
  radiofrequency or RF energy) when being
  used.Governments around the world have adopted
  comprehensive international safety guidelines,
  developed by independent scientific
  organizations, governing the exposure to RF
  energy. Mobile phones need to be designed to
  operate within these stringent limits.
• There has been occasional speculation in the
  media that the use of mobile phones at gasoline
  stations could pose a risk of fire or explosion.
• Improper mobile phone use while driving could
  cause accidents. It is desirable to have uniform
  guidelines in this regard.

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What is SAR

• SAR stands for Specific Absorption Rate which is
  the unit of measurement for the amount of RF
  energy absorbed by the body when using a mobile
  phone.
• Various international agencies have prescribed
  different levels of SAR values to meet human
  safety requirements
• the US IEEE standard for SAR is 1.6 W/kg
  averaged over 1 g of tissue
• The international ICNIRP standard is 2 W/kg
  averaged over 10 g of tissue
• The SAR is determined at the highest certified
  power level in laboratory conditions.The actual
  SAR level of the phone while operating will
  normally be well below this value. This is
  because the phone is designed to use the minimum
  power required to reach the network.
• Variations in SAR do not mean that there are
  variations in safety. While there may be
  differences in SAR levels among phone models, all
  mobile phones must meet RF exposure guidelines.

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Information sources for SAR Study

• There are several good sources of information by
  government and international agencies on the
  general issue of mobile phones and health.
• World Health Organization (WHO) www.who.int/emf
• U.S Food and Drug Administration
  www.fda.gov/cdrh/ocd/mobilphone.html
• U.K National Radiological Protection Board
  www.nrpb.org.uk/
• The Mobile Manufacturers Forum, the international
  association of mobile phone manufacturers, also
  has a comprehensive website www.mmfai.org to
  help answer consumer questions on health issues.

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Global agency for SAR

• The MMF is an international association of radio
  equipment manufacturers whose members include
  Alcatel, Ericsson, Mitsubishi Electric, Motorola,
  Nokia, Panasonic, Philips, Siemens and Sony.
• The MMF produces information with the purpose of
  developing and presenting industry positions to
  independent research organizations, government
  and other research bodies.
• Mobile Manufacturers Forum, Diamant Building, 80
  Blvd. A. Reyers, B-1030 Brussels Belgium
• www.mmfai.org

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What do the experts say?

• World Health Organization
• The World Health Organization has published a
  fact sheet that reviews the most recent findings.
  
• The United States Food and Drug Administration
• The FDA has published a consumer update on mobile
  phone health issues.
• Royal Society of Canada
• The Canadian health authorities requested the
  Royal Society of Canada to undertake a
  comprehensive evaluation of the potential health
  effects of RF fields.

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What research is being Undertaken?

• Research into the potential health effect(s)
  connected with the use of radio-waves has been
  conducted for many decades.
• There is also a substantial amount of ongoing
  scientific research being undertaken by health
  and scientific research organizations around the
  world. Considerably more than 200 studies have
  been initiated just to investigate whether
  emissions from mobile telephony equipment cause
  adverse health effects.
• The World Health Organization continues to play
  an important role in the coordination of research
  by providing reviews and recommendations for
  further research.
• The mobile telecoms industry also funds a large
  number of studies in partnership with government
  agencies around the world.

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What about the SAR levels?

• Comprehensive international guidelines exist
  governing SAR levels. However, there is no
  consistency in adoption of these guidelines in
  various APT countries.
• The limits have been developed by independent
  scientific organizations through periodic and
  thorough evaluation of scientific studies.
• The guideline limits include a substantial safety
  margin designed to assure the safety of all
  persons, regardless of age and health.
• Although the SAR is determined at the highest
  certified power level, the actual SAR of the
  phone while operating can be well below the
  maximum value.  For example, in studies in Paris,
  handheld mobile phones are working at 1 of full
  power for over 20 of the time and work at full
  power for less than 5 of the time.

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Regional Harmonization on Marking

• Many countries in the AP region have or are
  considering the introduction of voluntary labels
  on packaging or products. 
• In Australia the packaging has a label containing
  the regulatory mark "A-Tick" and wording such as
  "The A-tick shows this phone complies with all
  current ACA standards, including exposure to
  radio frequency energy. 
• In Hong Kong, OFTA had released a discussion
  paper  NSP Paper No. 6/2002 TELECOMMUNICATIONS
  STANDARDS ADVISORY COMMITTEE WORKING GROUP ON NEW
  STANDARDS AND POLICY (NSP) Radiation Safety
  Requirement of Mobile Phones which states
• Suppliers or manufacturers should be encouraged
  to affix a prescribed label to a mobile phone to
  help identify the compliance with the radiation
  safety requirement.

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Regional Harmonization on SAR

• Many countries in the AP region have implemented
  the ICNIREP (The International Commission on
  Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) guidelines
  on SAR.
• Many other countries are yet to implement these
  guidelines

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Petrol Pump Safety?

• Over the last several years, there has been
  occasional speculation in the media and over the
  Internet that the use of mobile phones at
  gasoline stations could pose a risk of fire or
  explosion.  
• However, we know of no documented incident
  anywhere in the world where the use of a mobile
  phone or portable radio was identified as the
  cause of a fire or explosion in a gasoline
  station.
• There is no credible reason to believe that the
  use of these products poses any such hazard.
• Automobiles (which have numerous potential
  ignition sources) pose a greater ignition
  hazard,.
• The Center for the Study of Wireless
  Electromagnetic Compatibility Center at the
  University of Oklahoma said research into this
  issue provided virtually no evidence to suggest
  that cell phones pose a hazard at gas stations.

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Driver Safety?

• Improper mobile phone use while driving could
  cause accidents. It is desirable to have uniform
  guidelines in this regard.
• Most countries in AP have mandated use of hands
  free devices for using mobile phones while
  driving.
• Impact of these devices need to be studied.

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Next steps

• Questionnaire being developed will be sent out by
  July 2003
• Draft recommendations will be circulated by
  September 2003.

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Thank You