Health scare

New Delhi, Oct. 5: The Union health minister today rang an alert on the health risks from two icons of modern India’s lifestyle and economy: cellphones and the IT industry.

The government has ordered a long-term study on the biological effects of cellphones and mobile phone towers, Anbumani Ramadoss said.

He added he was worried that the lifestyle of BPO employees — whom he had earlier accused of excessive partying, drinking and smoking — was contributing to early deaths.

“We all know the positive effect of the proliferation of mobile phones. We need to examine whether there are any negative effects,” he said.

The health research department has already begun examining populations living around mobile phone towers. “These will be clinical studies, but they’ll take years to complete,” department secretary Nirmal Kumar Ganguly said.

Global health agencies, though, say there is no scientific evidence of cellphones harming users’ health.

Ramadoss said his ministry would work with the IT ministry to draw up health guidelines for the software and BPO sectors.

He said young people working in these sectors were suffering from heart disease, stress and diabetes. “Young kids are dying at 24 of heart attack and diabetes. They don’t have any physical activity.”

A dermatologist in Chennai, the minister said, had reported a high incidence of psoriasis, a skin condition, among software professionals.

“We want to create awareness among employers and employees. These are solvable problems… this is our flagship industry.”

Ramadoss had earlier caused IT industry body Nasscom “deep distress” by saying BPO staff just “want to make a fast buck”, “party the rest of the time” after working “half the day”, and indulge in “excessive smoking and drinking”.

Nasscom termed Ramadoss’s comments an “unfair generalisation” of people who “work hard, with sincerity and dedication, and are well and fairly paid”.

The minister said the study on mobiles would be part of a bigger mandate for the DHR, which should also analyse tobacco-related diseases, junk food and obesity and “give us policies on these issues”.

The DHR secretary said the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, was among the institutions engaged in the study of mobile towers’ effects on people. “We are looking for more scientists to come up with interesting research proposals.”

“Mobile phones are being used by young kids. They often complain of headaches,” Ramadoss said, almost echoing the department of telecommunications, which suggested in August that children below 16 years should be discouraged from using cellphones.