RIYADH, 20 July — A Saudi team of specialists will conduct next year a detailed study on the health hazards posed by mobile telephone sets on human health, said Dr. Suraie Al-Dousary, ENT consultant and professor at the King Saud University Medical College in Riyadh.
The University Council has given the green light to proceed with the study by a team comprising doctors and engineers in the university’s faculties. Doctors from the medical college and King Abdul Aziz University Hospital will undertake the medical aspect of the study while the technical aspects will be examined by experts from university’s engineering faculty under Dr. Ziyad Al-Hokail, he said.
He also stressed the need for support from both government and private sectors for the successful conduct of the study which aims at finding out the real facts behind the contradicting reports on the effects of the handsets.
There are over 2 million mobile telephone users in the Kingdom. The Saudi Telecoms Company also plans to issue more connections.
Between 15 to 20 percent of Saudi telephone users purchase new phones when new models appear or when they feel they need a change of mobiles.
The distributors of mobile phones in the Kingdom have expressed their willingness to take safety precautions advised by their parent companies.
Saleh Al-Saqri, Saudi agent for the international Motorola mobile phones, said in Riyadh while responding to the latest statement by three international mobile phone manufacturers that they will issue warnings about the radiation levels emitted by the handsets that they manufacture. The leading companies in the industry such as Motorola, Nokia and Ericsson have agreed to issue by next year booklets explaining the radiation levels emitted by their various models.
“As the agents of the parent companies in the Kingdom, we are more concerned to protect the customers’ health than the profit we may earn. However, we did not receive any directive so far from the parent company,” he said.
Muhammad Al-Ayada, director general of Mashail Al-Khaleeg, the distributors of Nokia mobile phones in the Kingdom, said no study has confirmed beyond doubt that the radiation emitted by mobile phones caused health hazards.
The mobile phone radiation is not different from the radiation emitted by TV sets, radio and land phones but the difference is only in the level of emissions.
Shareef Qendeel, a leading Saudi journalist, wonders what is the use of stating the level of radiation without making efforts to stop or reduce it just as the current warning on cigarette packs. However, a clear statement is better than unconfirmed fears about its harmful effects, he said.
