Data points covered in the workshop conducted in Kochi, on the Govt. of India guidelines on installation, and safety regime of Telecom Towers and Mobile phones.

1. 1
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

2. 2

3. 3
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

4. 4
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

6. 6
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: 10.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 2
Telecom towers Comply with safety norms, says TERM

7. 7
Publication: Deccan Chronicle
Date: 10.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 6
Over 50pc mobile towers complaint

8. 8
Publication: Malayala Manorama
Date: 10.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 15
Mobile phone tower radiation not dangerous

9. 9
Publication: Mathrubhumi
Date: 10.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 11
No health risk from mobile radiation: COAI

10. 10
Publication: Deshabhimani
Date: 10.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 4
No health risk from mobile radiation: COAI

11. 11
Publication: Madhyamam
Date: 10.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 4
Mobile phone radiation: No cause for concern

12. 12
Publication: Mangalam
Date: 10.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 8
Mobile radiation: No cause for concern say experts

13. 13
Publication: Siraj
Date: 10.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 8
Mobile radiation: No cause for concern say experts

14. 14
Publication: Janmabhumi
Date: 10.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 8
Mobile radiation: No cause for concern say experts

15. 15
Publication: Metro Vartha
Date: 10.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 8
Mobile radiation: No cause for concern say experts

16. 16
Publication: Deepika
Date: 10.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 3
Only mobile phones that pass safety standards are allowed in Indian markets

17. 17
Publication: Tejas
Date: 10.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 2
Mobile radiation: No cause for concern says COAI

18. 18
Publication: The Hindu Business Line
Date: 11.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 15
Drive to dispel ‘myths’ about mobile towers

19. 19
Publication: Chandrika
Date: 11.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 10
Mobile radiation no cause for concern say experts

20. 20
Publication: Varthamanam
Date: 11.10.2014
Edition: Kochi
Page number: 10
Mobile radiation no cause for concern say experts

21. 21
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

23. 23
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

24. 24
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.

25. 25
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

26. 26
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

27. 27
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

28. 28
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.

29. 29
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

30. 30
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