India’s first laboratory for testing and measuring mobile phone electromagnetic radiation has opened at the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) in New Delhi. Cell phone developers are required to either self-certify product radiation levels or gain certification from an international accredited laboratory.
New radiation rules enacted in September 2012 reduced the country’s cell phone radiation exposure limit to one-tenth of the previous limit. The specific absorption rate (SAR) was also restricted “to 1.6 watt/kg, averaged over a mass of 1 gram of tissue.” Cell phone manufacturers are also now required to display the SAR on the outside of the device.
The new laboratory is equipped to take SAR measurements for CDMA and GSM 2G and 3G mobile handsets and is also able to provide measurements of SAR value with respect to limits provided by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radio Protection (ICNIRP).
