What! Cell phones emit radiation! Okay so it’s not breaking news. It’s common knowledge our cell phones are slowly cooking our brains, but now we know which phones could speed up the process!
An Environmental Working Group (EWG) team has released a consumer guide on the radiation levels emitted by over 1,000 cell phones sold in the U.S. The guide was based on technical data provided by manufacturers and is the most comprehensive ever published! The group says it did it to “fill the information gap left by the U.S. government’s failure to require cell phone makers and vendors to disclose emissions levels on labels or in-store advertising displays”.
Let’s take a look at the top offenders shall we?
EWG’s list of highest radiation phones:
1. Motorola MOTO VU204 [Verizon Wireless]
2. T-Mobile myTouch 3G [T-Mobile]
3. Kyocera Jax S1300 [Virgin Mobile]
4. Blackberry Curve 8330 [Sprint, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless, MetroPCS]
5. Motorola W385 [U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless]
6. T-Mobile Shadow [T-Mobile]
7. Motorola C290 [Sprint, Kajeet]
8. Motorola i335 [Sprint]
9. Motorola MOTO VE240 [Cricket, MetroPCS]
10. Blackberry Bold 9000 [AT&T]
Those are the baddies, now for a look at the good ones. The following are the 10 lowest emitting phones.
EWG’s top 10 phones, based on low emissions:
1. Samsung Impression (SGH-a877) [AT&T]
2. Motorola RAZR V8 [CellularONE]
3. Samsung SGH-t229 [T-Mobile]
4. Samsung Rugby (SGH-a837) [AT&T]
5. Samsung Propel Pro (SGH-i627) [AT&T]
6. Samsung Gravity (SGH-t459) [CellularONE, T-Mobile]
7. T-Mobile Sidekick [T-Mobile]
8. LG Xenon (GR500) [AT&T]
9. Motorola Karma QA1 [AT&T]
10. Sanyo Katana II [Kajeet]
There you have it. Choose your next cell phone wisely! To see how your cell phone ranks click here.
Its very sad to see that our goverment regulations in Canada have not run their own testing for the safety of our fellow citizens.
Something that might help those interested in cellphone safety.
Precautionary Measures
Some national radiation advisory authorities, including those of Austria,[5] France,[74] Germany,[75] and Sweden[76] have recommended measures to minimize exposure to their citizens. Examples of the recommendations are:
* Use hands-free to decrease the radiation to the head.
* Keep the mobile phone away from the body.
* Do not use telephone in a car without an external antenna.
The use of “hands-free” was not recommended by the British Consumers’ Association in a statement in November 2000 as they believed that exposure was increased.[77] However, measurements for the (then) UK Department of Trade and Industry[78] and others for the French l’Agence française de sécurité sanitaire environnementale[79] showed substantial reductions. In 2005 Professor Lawrie Challis and others said clipping a ferrite bead onto hands-free kits stops the radio waves travelling up the wire and into the head.
—-excerpt taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_radiation_and_health
The Federal Communications Commission sets the acceptable U.S. radiation standards for cellphones. The effects of the radiation depend on the rate at which energy is absorbed by a mass of tissue. This is called as the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) and measured in watts per kilogram (W/kg). Most handset makers use private certification companies to test the SAR on their devices.
Based on a recommendation from industry group, IEEE, the FCC limits SAR levels for partial-body exposure (including head) to up to 1.6 W/kg, and whole body exposure to up to 0.08 W/kg. For hands, wrists, feet, and ankles, the limit is up to 4 W/kg, averaged over 10 grams of tissue.
In general, the lower the SAR the better the phone, from a potential health hazard point of view. For instance, Apple’s iPhone 3G has a maximum SAR of 1.39 W/kg when held at the ear. Compare that to the 1.19 W/kg SAR for the iPhone 3G S.
The best phone on EWG’s list, the Samsung Impression, has a maximum radiation of just 0.35 W/kg.
But FCC’s current standards are inadequate, says EWG. FCC standards allow 20 times more radiation to reach the head than the rest of the body, says an EWG representative, and they don’t provide an adequate margin of safety for cell phone radiation exposure.
“The FCC limit for the head (SAR of 1.6 W/kg) is just two-and-a-half times lower than the level that caused behavioral changes in animals (SAR of 4 W/kg),” says the representative. “Thus, the brain receives a high exposure, even though the brain may well be one of the most sensitive parts of human body … and should have more protection.”
There’s also just one one standard for “general population exposure” which is same for adults and children. The FCC also does not have strict enforcement against violators, alleges EWG.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:10 am—–excerpt taken from wired.com
Great post you got here. It would be great to read a bit more about this matter.
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:11 am