Dalits and Adivasis could enter the corporate sector with their skills polished through training programs organized collectively by Dalit Information and Education Trust and Talent Aligners.

The two organizations, who are committed to strive for the upliftment of Dalits and Adivasis, will train selected dalit and adivasi candidates for the latest job opportunity available with India’s conglomerate Tata.

The current openings are for the role of Customer Care Executive with Tata Business Support Services (TBSS). The work location would be Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

In general, candidates would be trained primarily on the interview skills. The training would make the prospects ‘interview-ready’ for the corporate companies identified by the two oranizations.

Last date for submission of Resume/CV is 15th June 2013. Selected candidates will get a call for attending the short-term training and personality development skills sessions.

The short-term training program would be for 5-7 days in Hyderabad. No accommodation, TA or DA would be provided for this training program. For further information contact: Alavala Gavarraju or P. Krishnaveni.

Apple’s iPhone business single-handedly is now superior to the entire Microsoft, current revenue figures revealed.

The technical giant’s in style smart phone division made 24.4 billion dollars of returns in the quarter up until December, while the whole of Microsoft generated 20.9 billion dollars in the same.

This integrated the software firm’s pursuit devices such as Xbox, as well as Windows, Microsoft Office along with Windows Phone.

Business Insider that highlighted the figures revealed that Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones, its flagship product, and 15.43 million iPads in the quarter up until December, doubling from a year earlier.

According to the paper, Apple’s stockpile of cash now stands at 100 billion dollars, which could be enough to buy Facebook outright, The Daily Mail reports.

Apple only overtook Microsoft’s market capitalization in May 2010, the first time the company had been ahead of its rival computer company since 1989.

Apple overtook Exxon to become the world’s number one company in terms of market cap in August 2011.

Development of the iPhone began in 2005 with Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ direction that Apple engineers investigate touch screens. He also steered the original focus away from a tablet, like the iPad, and towards a phone. Apple created the device during a secretive collaboration with AT&T Mobility—Cingular Wireless at the time—at an estimated development cost of US$150 million over thirty months.

Dr. Manmohan Singh has urged the researchers in science and technology to develop ‘frugal’ solutions to deal with the chronic problems like poverty, unemployment, food and water security. Speaking at the Indian Science Congress, the Prime Minister has showed deep concern on the declining growth of quality research in science and technology.  It is well known that students who opt for science have been more interested in completing a competitive degree and enter the job market. This has happened not because of students are not interested to conduct research or study the pure sciences. Te reason has been lack of facilities for further research and the market value for research. Though the initial signs of progress are satisfactory, however India lags behind developing countries like China.

The Speech of the Prime Minster is given below:    

PM’s speech at the 99th Annual Session of the Indian Science Congress on 3rd January 2012 at Bhubaneshwar

I am delighted to be here in Bhubaneshwar for the 99th Annual Session of the Indian Science Congress. Odisha is a most appropriate venue for the Congress as this year we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the UNESCO-Kalinga Prize set up by the Late Shri Biju Patnaik. Indian science owes much to the vision of our early nation builders who gave science a prominent place in our development planning processes.

I congratulate Professor Geetha Bali for choosing, as the theme for the Congress, the role of Science and Technology for Inclusive Innovation with special reference to the role of women.

It was a hundred years ago that Madame Marie Curie, one of the most outstanding scientists of the 20th century, won her first Nobel Prize. To honour her achievements, last year was declared as the International Year of Chemistry.

Marie Curie blazed a trail for women in the world of science. But her work also exemplified her belief that science should, in the end, contribute to tangible social good. She helped to set up X-ray stations during the First World War and established the Curie Foundation which became a major force for the treatment of the dreaded disease of cancer.

I have often spoken about the commitment of our Government to give a boost to the science and technology sector in the country. We have taken several steps towards this end.

• We have greatly expanded the higher education infrastructure for Science and Technology by establishing new institutions.

• Public investment in Research and Development has been growing at 20-25% per year during the 11th Plan period.

• We have funded a number of schemes to rejuvenate research and scientific excellence in universities.

• We have introduced a large number of scholarships; most notably, the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research or INSPIRE scheme which gives awards to one million science students.

There is also some evidence that these efforts are beginning to produce results.

Over the last few years, the number of scientific publications by Indian scientists working in India has increased at more than 12% per annum against the global average of 4%. India has moved from the 15th rank in 2003 to the 9th rank in 2010 with respect to the number of publications in peer-valued journals.

The university research system is also showing signs of rejuvenation. In 2008, I gave away incentive awards to 14 universities under the Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence (PURSE) scheme. In 2010, 30 more universities have qualified under the same criteria. The University of Rajasthan leads among the top 50 Indian scientific institutions in citations per paper under international collaboration. We produce, I have been told, 8,900 Ph.Ds annually in science and engineering, three thousand more than five years ago.

The INSPIRE scheme is doing well and is also responding to our concerns about inclusiveness. The enrolment of weaker sections in the scheme is good and 49.6% of the INSPIRE awardees are women. More than 60% of INSPIRE fellows pursuing doctoral research happen to be women.

Over the past few decades, India’s relative position in the world of science had been declining and we have been overtaken by countries like China. Things are changing but we cannot be satisfied with what has been achieved. We need to do much more to change the face of Indian science. We must strengthen the supply chain of the science sector. While it is true that science and engineering continue to attract some of our best students, many of them later opt for other careers because of relatively poorer prospects in science.

We must also make scientific output more relevant to our stage of development. It is said that science is often pre-occupied with problems of the rich, ignoring the enormous and in many ways more challenging problems of the poor and the under-privileged.

 As we head into the Twelfth Plan, there are some objectives we must try to achieve in the Science and Technology sector.

First, we must ensure a major increase in investment in R&D, including by industry and strategic sectors.

Second, we must the ensure creation of a new innovation ecosystem.

Third, we must achieve greater alignment of the Science and Technology sector with the inclusive development needs of our nation.

Fourth, we must expand basic science infrastructure.

Fifth, we must encourage greater research collaboration among universities and national laboratories. We hope to use the National Knowledge Network to this end.

Finally, we must enlarge the reach of international collaboration.

As far as resources are concerned, the fraction of GDP spent on R&D in India has been too low and stagnant. We must aim to increase the total R&D spending as a percentage of GDP to at least 2 per cent by the end of the XII Plan Period from the current level of about 1 per cent. This can only be achieved if industry, which contributes about one-third of the total R&D expenditure today, increases its contribution significantly. I sincerely believe that Public Sector Undertakings, particularly those in the energy sector should also play a major role in this expansion.

We have to increase public private partnerships and catalyse significantly increased interaction between publicly owned Science and Technology institutions and industry. It is in some ways ironic that General Electric and Motorola have created world-class technology hubs in India, while our own industry has not done so, except perhaps in the pharmaceutical sector. We need therefore, to look at ways of incentivising private Research and Development investment under Indian conditions.

At present, publicly funded R&D is skewed in favour of fundamental rather than applied research. It is easier to attract industrial funds into applied research areas and a set of principles should be formulated to push such funding and to drive Public-Private-Partnerships in Research and Development. The Biopolis in Singapore is an interesting example of a cluster approach that has brought together 2,000 scientists and researchers in the area of bio-sciences from public laboratories and private industry in one place. In India, we have our own Open Source Drug Discovery project, which is a ‘virtual’ cluster enabling the creation of affordable and effective solutions which would not be likely with a conventional ‘in-lab’ approach.

While research generates new knowledge, we need innovation to use this knowledge creatively and productively for social benefit. Our Government has declared 2010-20 as the “Decade of Innovations”. We need to give practical meaning to innovation so that it does not end up being just a buzz word.

I understand that the National Innovation Council is proposing to set up an India Inclusive Innovation Fund that will drive and catalyse enterprise, entrepreneurship, and venture capital, while targeting solutions for the bottom of the national pyramid.

In this context, it is important that we explore and rejuvenate traditional knowledge systems found all over our country in areas such as agriculture, architecture, handicrafts and textiles. One need go no further than the tribal communities of the Kharia, Santhals, Gonds and Kolhas who live in the deep forest areas of Mayurbhanj and have a reservoir of knowledge on medicinal usage of locally available plants.

I congratulate the tribal community of Koraput for the global recognition they have received for their contribution to conserving bio-diversity and developing climate-change resilient farming systems.

An occasion like the present one should be used to revisit a fundamental question: what is the role of science in a country like India? There is no simple answer. But for a country grappling with the challenges of poverty and development, the over-riding objective of a comprehensive and well-considered policy for science, technology and innovation should be to support the national objective of faster, sustainable and inclusive development.

There is much that the scientific community can do to achieve these objectives. Research should be directed to providing ‘frugal’ solutions to our chronic problems of providing food, energy and water security to our people. Science should help us understand how to give practical meaning to the concept of sustainable development and green growth. Science should help us shift our mindsets from the allocation of resources to their more efficient use. Technology and process engineering should help us reach the benefits of development to those who need it most.

Under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, our government has launched eight National Missions in important areas such as Sustainable Agriculture, Water, Energy Efficiency, Solar Energy and Forestry. All the Missions have strong components of science and technology. I would urge the scientific community to pool their knowledge and wisdom to contribute to the success of these critical National Missions.

Several initiatives have already been taken. The Solar Energy Corporation of India headed by Dr. Anil Kakodkar has been established and is now a functional entity. A National Water Policy is under active preparation. The National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change has already identified two centres of excellence at IIT, Mumbai and ICRISAT, at Hyderabad to build capacities in climate science.

Increasing food production and nutritional security are critically important and our agricultural scientists should therefore work towards scientific breakthroughs that can enable a second green revolution to become a living reality.

We are examining a proposal to build national capacity and capability in supercomputing which will be implemented by the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore at an estimated cost of Rs. 5000 crore.

The Government is also considering a proposal to establish a Neutrino Observatory in Theni district in Tamil Nadu with a proposed investment of Rs 1350 crore.

The Department of Earth Sciences has launched a Monsoon Mission to improve the predictability of the Indian monsoons.

This year the Nobel Committee recognized the contributions of three extraordinary women who were inspirational agents of change in the struggle for peace, democracy and human dignity in their respective countries.

In India too women are making a mark in traditionally male bastions and decisively breaking the glass ceiling. The Project Director of the Agni Missile programme is a distinguished woman scientist Dr. Tessy Thomas. Last year, for the first time, three women scientists received the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award, as compared to a total of only 11 women awardees for all the years since 1958 up to then.

I congratulate these creative women scientists. I hope that their examples will motivate other women to take up careers in science, where women are under-represented.

I commend the Department of Science and Technology for introducing the “Women Scientists Scheme” which has helped more than 2000 women scientists resume careers after breaks arising from family commitments.

The Department of Science and Technology is also formulating another scheme called ‘DISHA’ which will help women scientists to relocate to other cities. The Department will create 1000 contractual positions tenable in publicly funded institutions for this purpose. A fellowship matching the total emoluments of an in-service Science and Technology professional will be provided when she moves from one station to another.

But, we should also take note of the results of a study published last year that showed that 60% of nearly 2000 Indian women Ph.Ds in science who were surveyed were unemployed. The main reason cited was lack of job opportunities. Only a very small number cited family reasons. This underlines the need for transparency in selection procedures at institutions and also the great importance of gender audits.

This year we celebrate the 125th birth anniversary of the great mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan. We have declared 2012 to be the National Mathematical Year to emphasize the importance of maintaining our traditional strength in mathematics.

It is a matter of great pride that the name of another great Indian scientist Satyendranath Bose is associated with an elementary particle that may revolutionise our understanding of sub-atomic physics.

In the final analysis, the pursuit of science is a process of unlocking the human mind. It is an exploration of the mystery, beauty and method in the universe by stretching the frontiers of our imagination. We need to invoke the power of science in every sphere of our economy and way of life.

I end by quoting Isaac Asimov who said “There is a single light of science and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere”

(Author is studying Political Science at Ravenshaw University)

Beyondheadlines Reporter

Hectic preparations are underway at KIIT for the 99th Indian Science Congress, the greatest scientific extravaganza of the decade, to be held here from 3-7 January 2012. Meetings of the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) Executive Committee and ISCA Council were held at KIIT from 12-15 October 2011 to take stock of the preparations. The high-level ISCA committee, led by Prof. Geetha Bali, General President and Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary to the Govt. of India, DST as the Prime Minister’s nominee, also held a series of meeting with KIIT officials, who made a presentation on the progress of work. They were highly satisfied with the preparations.

Selection of the awardees for the Young Scientists’ Programme, instituted by ISCA, was also done on the occasion. The annual award, which is conferred during the session of Indian Science Congress, felicitates young scientists and researchers below the age of 32. For the 99th Indian Science Congress, panel of experts selected 14 young scientists for the award after evaluating their research work and presentations.

The five-day scientific event, organized by KIIT in collaboration with NISER, is expected to be attended by over 18,000 delegates from India and abroad, including 20 Nobel Laureates. The Congress would be inaugurated by Dr. Manmohan Singh, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, who would visit again on the concluding day to take over as the president of the next Science Congress. For the first time, Children Science Congress and Women Science Congress would be held simultaneously with 99th ISC.

More than 100 representatives from ISCA attended the meeting. Prof. K. C. Pandey, Past General President, Dr. M. K. Chakrabarti, Dr. (Mrs.) V. L. Saxena, General Secretaries, Mr. N. B. Basu, Treasurer, Dr. A. K. Nayak, Registrar, NISER & Local Secretary, 99th ISC and Dr. Sasmita Samanta, Registrar, KIIT University & Local Secretary, 99th ISC were among those who were present.

Twitter has become the most commonly used social networking online site by most people these days.  By increasing the twitter followers one may let other people read the updates that one has posted. Here are a few ways to help improve the twitter followers:

Trick1: Take pictures as they are heavily retweeted and spread around.

Trick 2: Start a contest. You may not reach the number 1 most followed spot but certainly would end up adding a number of followers.

Trick 3: Tweet about the things you are passionate about and #hash tag them. It is an easy way to find quality content that never fails.

Trick 4: Land your twitter account into the real world. Every time you give a talk, speak up on a panel, shoot a podcast or hand out business cards; do whatever you are more comfortable with.

Trick 4: Watch out for the tweets of the top twitter users. Pay special attention to the quality of content they have been using.

For the beginners, just by following these simple steps, you can surely make a good mark. Advertising today is solely a game in the industry, which results in the formula, the more the ads, the better sales you get.

New Delhi: Steve Jobs, co-founder and former chairman and CEO of Apple,Inc., is no more. He was 56. Jobs had been battling pancreatic cancer since 2004 and received a liver transplant in 2009. In the latter stages of his cancer battle, he gave up the day-to-day running of the company but remained chairman of its board of directors.

Apple on Thursday (September 6) announced the death of its visionary co-founder on its website, saying, “We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

“Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

“His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.”

According to his family members, Jobs “died peacefully today surrounded by his family. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief.”

The charismatic former CEO of Apple revolutionised modern culture with Apple’s ubiquitous inventions like the iPod and the iPad.

President Barack Obama joined an outpouring of tributes to Steve Jobs, calling the Apple co-founder a visionary and great American innovator.

“Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it,” Obama said of Jobs, who died on Wednesday.

“The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.”

The U.S. President was joined by political, technology, entertainment and business leaders around the world in paying tribute to Jobs.

Paying tribute to Steve, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a posting on the world’s leading online social networking site: “Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you.”

Microsoft CO-Founder and Chairman Bill Gates said: “Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives. The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor.”

In his message, Dell Inc CEO Michael Dell said: “Today the world lost a visionary leader, the technology industry lost an iconic legend and I lost a friend and fellow founder. The legacy of Steve Jobs will be remembered for generations to come.”

The discontent over Hewlett-Packard Co’s strategic shift has deemed it to become the cheapest technical company in the entire world. This shift has drastically changed the largest computer manufacturer to a potential takeover target.

Hewlett-Packard has lost more than $10 billion in its market value after it announced that it was spinning off its computer unit, buy Autonomy Corp and scrap to put its mobile software on devices, a plan that was running for the past five months. 

According to the data compiled by Bloomberg, the 20 percent plunge drove to the evaluation of Palo Alto, which is the 5 times estimated profit of the California based Hewlett-Packard. This is general is about 70 percent less than the average technology company.

In November, the position of the chief executive officer was taken over by Leo Apothekar. Since then the shareholders of Hewlett-Packard have lost out in the market as the company tumbled down five times and faced the first decline in profits ever since a decade. According to Solaris group LLC, It may now try luring its buyers by trying to break up the shares and acquire the pieces.

Chairman Ray Lane told PC business: “we are spinning it out and that should free shareholder value”. Hewlett-Packard is now busy looking for investors who would wish to hold the stocks for the longer terms.

The purchase was Hewlett-Packard’s largest since the $13 billion acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Corp in 2008 and Apotheker’s biggest since becoming CEO. 

Apotheker, 57, unveiled last week’s overhaul as he cut sales forecasts for the third time. The former SAP AG (SAP) head is pushing to expand in cloud computing and challenge Oracle and International Business Machines Corp (IBM) in more profitable products aimed at companies as consumer demand wanes and Apple Inc lures buyers to its iPad. 

“You can pretty much take a look at the stock price, look at when Hurd exited, and then look at now,” he told media. “It’s pretty straightforward. Something’s not working.” 

New Delhi: A new report launched by Greenpeace, a global environmental organization, states that use of glyphosate based herbicides can pose risk to human health as well as environment.

Introduction of herbicide tolerant GM crops which are under field trial stage in India can lead to widespread and intensive usage of these herbicides. The report was launched by Sri. Basudeb Acharia, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing committee on Agriculture, here yesterday.

The report, ‘Herbicide Tolerance and GM crops-Why the world should be ready to round-up Glyphosate’, is a compilation of literature from across the globe on the impacts of Glyphosate. It states that scientific studies show that Glyphosate can cause serious health effects like human birth defects, abnormalities in vital reproductive hormones as well as blood cancer. There is a marked increase in use of this herbicide due to increased use of herbicide tolerant GM crops which is primarily manufactured and marketed by Monsanto.

The report also talks about the environmental impacts of glyphosate on aquatic life forms, soil invertebrates like the earth worms and higher life forms.

Glyphosate is the active ingredient in many herbicides sold throughout the world. Glyphosate-based herbicides are used widely for weed control because they are non-selective; glyphosate kills all vegetation. Monsanto has also come up with herbicide tolerant GM crops in soya bean, maize and cotton which form the majority of the GM crops grown in USA, Brazil and Argentina, the only 3 countries in the world where GM crops are grown extensively. The company is now trying to introduce herbicide tolerant GM maize in India. Presently GM maize field trials are allowed in 11 locations across 8 states in the country.

According to Kapil Mishra, sustainable Agriculture Campaigner for Greenpeace India, “While the government of India has permitted large-scale field trials of Monsanto’s herbicide tolerant maize crops across India, it’ is important to know the ill effects that these crops and the associated chemical pose to human health and the environment.”

He added, “It is shocking that open field trials of such risky crops are being permitted without any safety study being conducted independently.”

He also opined that government should take note of the two pronged strategy by Monsanto to double its profit through sale of seeds and their own herbicides risking ecological and human safety.

In the past a taskforce set up by the government and headed by Dr Swaminathan had categorically stated that India should not permit herbicide tolerant GM crops as they would lead to loss of employment in the agriculture sector especially for women whose survival depends on manual weeding.  The report also has recommended the government to avoid GM crops where ever viable alternatives exist.

Basudeb Acharia, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing committee on agriculture, emphasizing on the importance of sustainable farming to ensure food security and livelihood security said, “There is a serious concern on the socioeconomic impacts of GM crops. One cannot label destructive farming as progressive science and force it down the throat of millions.”

He further stated that “On the one hand we have seen how these GM crops are leading to monopoly of the companies like Monsanto in the seed sector on the other hand such technologies like herbicide tolerant GM crops will destroy the rural livelihoods dependent on agriculture”

The report has been launched in the first week of the parliamentary monsoon session in a bid draw attention to the proposed BRAI (Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India) bill which will be introduced in this session. The bill has not been put in the public domain and once enacted is expected to allow easy approval of GM crops such as Bt brinjal as well as herbicide tolerant GM maize.

The speakers demanded that in the wake of more and more evidences coming out against GM crops, Government of India should immediately stop any kind of release of GM crops, be it for commercialization or field experimentation. They also urged the government to do public consultations on BRAI before it is tabled in the parliament as it is going to have a serious impact on food and farming in the country.

India’s premier news agency PTI has quoted Dr Carmem Lucia Pessoa Da Silva, the a WHO official in the department of global alter and response, as saying: “The ‘New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 (NDM-1)’ bacteria carrying these mechanisms is a gene that includes the possibility of making anti-microbials not effective.”

The NDM-1 carrying the gene has already been identified in several patients and countries, she said.

WHO today launched the Global Infection Prevention Control Network to address the growing threat from serious infectious epidemics like SARS (severe anti-respiratory syndrome) which spread to several countries over seven years ago, and anti-microbial resistance.

The NDM-1 became a huge controversy in India last year after a study was published in Lancet, a British medical journal about this new global public health threat.

The Lancet study carried out by a multi-national team reported the spread of bacterial carrying NDM-1 gene that was resistant to multiple different classes of antibiotics.

However, the Union Health Ministry severely contested the findings of the Lancet study which showed that the gene had originated in India. It described the Lancet’s conclusions as “unfair” maintaining that Indian hospitals are perfectly safe for treatment.

Subsequently, Lancet apologised to the Indian government saying it was an error to name a superbug after New Delhi.

(Reuters) – Using a mobile phone might increase the risk of developing certain types of brain tumours and consumers should consider ways of reducing their exposure, World Health Organisation WHO.L cancer experts said on Tuesday.

Courtesy: Reuters

A working group of 31 scientists from 14 countries meeting at the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer IARC.L said a review of all the available scientific evidence suggested cell phone use should be classified as “possibly carcinogenic.”

The classification, which puts mobile phone use in the same broad IARC cancer risk category as lead, chloroform and coffee, could spur the United Nations health body to look again at its guidelines on mobile phones, the scientists said.

But more lengthy and detailed research is needed before a more definitive answer on any link can be given.

The WHO had previously said there was no established evidence for a link between cell phone use and cancer.

“After reviewing essentially all the evidence that is relevant … the working group classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans,” Jonathan Samet, chair of the IARC group, said in a telebriefing.

He said some evidence suggested a link between an increased risk for glioma, a type of brain cancer, and mobile phone use.

Cellphone use has risen hugely since they were introduced in the early 1980s, with 5 billion in use today. And since phones have become such an key part of daily life — used by many for Web surfing as well as talking — industry experts say a health threat will not stop people using them.

Instead, concerned consumers might opt to buy more accessories such as headsets to reduce the risks, Avian Securities analyst Matthew Thornton said.

“It’s going to take some compelling argument to change behaviour,” he said.

The WHO’s position has been keenly awaited by mobile phone companies and by campaign groups who have raised concerns about whether cell phones might be harmful to health.

Industry groups immediately sought to play down the decision, stressing the “possibly carcinogenic” category also includes substances such as pickled vegetables and coffee.

“This IARC classification does not mean that cell phones cause cancer,” said John Walls, vice president of public affairs for the United States-based wireless association CTIA.

He noted the IARC working group did not conduct any new research, but reviewed published studies, and said other regulatory bodies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have stated that “the weight of scientific evidence has not linked cell phones with any health problems.”

John Cooke, executive director of the British-based Mobile Operators Association, said IARC had only found the possibility of a hazard.

“Whether or not this represents a risk requires further scientific investigation,” he said in a statement.

PREVIOUS STUDIES INCONCLUSIVE

The IARC remarks follow a study published last year that looked at almost 13,000 cell phone users over 10 years and found no clear answer on whether the mobile devices cause brain tumours.

Many previous studies have also failed to establish any clear cancer link, but a U.S. study in February found that using a mobile phone can change brain cell activity.

IARC director Christopher Wild said it was important that more research be conducted, particularly into long-term and 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,” he said.

Malcolm Sperrin, director of medical physics and clinical engineering at Britain’s Royal Berkshire Hospital, said he thought the IARC move was appropriate because it reflected the “anecdotal evidence that cancers may be associated with phone usage.” But he added: “It is vitally important to fully understand that there is no definitive correlation.”