The decision by mobile phone manufacturers to start labelling mobile phones with the amount of radiation they emit has been welcomed by Eircell, the State's largest mobile phone service operator.
Ms Olivia Dobbs, a spokeswoman for Eircell, said Irish mobile phone users had no reason to be concerned about the safety of their phones. "But if this plan makes them more confident, then it is welcome."
Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, Motorola and Ericsson are working on developing a standard for measuring specific absorption rates (SAR). This is a measure of radiation from cellphones.
"We are going through the harmonisation process at the moment and are waiting for a SAR measurement standard, which is expected to be finalised by early next year," a Nokia mobile phones spokesman, Mr Tapio Hedman, said yesterday.
Manufacturers do not plan to label the actual phones with SAR values but rather the packages which the phones come in.
The move comes as questions still linger about whether mobile phone usage poses a risk to human health. In May, the Stewart inquiry in Britain found no evidence of danger from mobile phone radiation but recommended that tough controls be implemented.
The Eircell spokeswoman emphasised that there was no evidence to suggest that the use of mobile phones could affect human health. "We are very happy that the products sold in our shops are way below the international guidelines. Anything sold on this market has to meet very stringent standards. Several studies have proven that and we stand over the guidelines 100 per cent."
Last month, a spokesman said the Government had no plans to follow Britain's lead in warning schools about mobile phone usage. The British government had written to every school advising them to discourage pupils under 16 from using mobile phones.
The Irish Department of Education said responsibility for health and safety lay with the individual school authorities and not the Government.
