Assurance On Radiation Risks
By Sarban Singh
25 April 2001
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Handphone manufacturers soon may have to give assurance that their products comply with new radiation emission standards before the phones are allowed into the market.
Service providers, importers and vendors would also be subjected to this ruling, the Communications and Multimedia Commission said today.
This is among the provisions to be included in a set of guidelines and regulations to be issued by the CMC.
The CMC was established on Nov 1, 1998 to regulate the converging industries of broadcasting, telecommunications and online services.
Under this move, industry players would also be expected to give similar assurance to users of radio base stations and other radio communications installations.
The CMC said it was currently in the midst of establishing working groups with industry players to study the effects of cellular phone radiation on human health.
"The possible effect of radiation on human beings has been a subject widely debated on many occasions by the local as well as the international mass media and research literatures.
"This has raised concern among members of the public who are now using cellular phones as part of their daily communications tools," the CMC said.
It added that with the proliferation of new models and technologies to support mobile communications services, the issue has also become critical to the future growth and development of the wireless communications industry.
In 1996, the Health Ministry set up a committee to study the effect of radiation on human beings from the use of radio-communication and cellular phones.
The committee also included representatives from various research organisations, institutions of higher learning and the Government.
It concluded that there was no conclusive evidence to indicate that electromagnetic fields (EMF) exposures at levels normally encountered would cause negative health effects.
The committee also noted that numerous studies were still being carried out worldwide and as such, there was a need to continuously review the latest findings.
It also recommended that the limits recommended by the International Radiation Protection Association be used as a guideline.
"A Telecommunications Department case study in 1996 found that the safety level of radiation exposure to humans for the purpose of installation and utilisation of radio frequency emitting equipment was between 3kHz and 300GHz," the CMC said.
On the use of cellular phones, the CMC said the current standards used in Malaysia were based on specifications contained in the Phase 2, GSM Mobile Station, ETS 300 607 for both GSM900 and GSM1800.
"Importers of cellular phones have to comply with the standards through technical compliance testing conducted by Sirim Bhd.
"The approved phones have to be labelled to indicate that they are in compliance with the standards before being allowed to be sold to the public," it said.
However, the Government has not decided to mandate labelling at this stage except to provide users with information on the possible risks in using the handphone.
Source: The New Straitstimes, Malaysia. 
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