Times of India
11 June 2008
New Delhi, India.
By Kounteya Sinha

In a recent pilot study done at Jawaharlal Nehru University, rats subjected to radiation from mobile phones were found to have damaged DNA and low sperm count, leading to infertility and reduction in testis size. The Union health ministry now wants to find out whether excessive cellphone use could be having the same adverse effects on your health.

The ministry has commissioned India’s first large–scale study on the effects of radio frequency radiation (RFR) from mobile phones on humans. Initiated by Union health minister A. Ramadoss and to be spearheaded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which has just completed finalising the protocol, the five year study will be conducted by Jnu’s School of Environmental Sciences and three departments of AIIMS obstetrics and gynecology, neurology and biochemistry.

One of the important spin–offs of the study will involve measuring the wavelength and frequency of RFD emitted from various types of cellphones used in India to see whether or not these conform to international standards.

The study will look at the effect RFR has on neurological disorders like cognitive impairment, depression and sleep–related disorders. Scientists will look at whether excessive mobile phone use changes the white matter of the brain and causes physiological abnormalities. They will also study RFR’s effect on reproductive health like menstrual cycle, hormonal changes in women, its effect on male reproductive functions and whether it causes abnormalities in the male reproductive tract.