Cellphone Radiation As Carcinogen Risk

Ms Tan Su Shan asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources what is the Ministry's response to the World Health Organization's categorisation of cellphone radiation as a carcinogen risk and whether there are plans to study Taiwan's action to limit cellphone usage by students.

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In May 2011, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO/IARC) announced the classification of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as "possibly carcinogenic to humans", that is, a Group 2B classification1. Dr Jonathan Samet (University of Southern California, USA), overall Chairman of the Working Group, indicated that "there could be some risk, and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cell phones and cancer risk."

The IARC Director, Christopher Wild, emphasised that "it is important that additional research be conducted into the long-term, heavy use of mobile phones. Pending the availability of such information, it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure, such as hands-free devices or texting."

In April 2012, the UK Health Protection Agency reported that a study by its independent advisory group indicated that there was still no convincing evidence that radiofrequency electromagnetic fields exposure below the current guideline levels recommended by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) would cause adverse health effects on adults and children. Nevertheless, it recommended continuing with a "precautionary approach" and suggested that "Excessive use of mobile phones by children should be discouraged, while adults should make their own choices as to whether they wish to reduce their exposures, but be enabled to do this from an informed position. Moving the phone away from the body, as when texting, results in very much lower exposures than if a phone is held to the head. Also, the use of the more recent 3G mode of transmission instead of the older 2G mode will produce much lower exposures. Other options to reduce exposure include using hands-free kits, keeping calls short, making calls where the network signals are strong, and choosing a phone with a low specific energy absorption rate (SAR) value quoted by the manufacturer."

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The levels of mobile phone radiation permitted in Singapore complies with the ICNIRP standards mentioned above. The Centre for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Science under the National Environment Agency (NEA) has published information on non-ionising radiation on its website.

The NEA will continue to closely monitor developments in this area and work with the Ministry of Health and other relevant authorities to evaluate any new findings from scientific studies on this matter.

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