Mobiles to carry health warning

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 29 December 2009, 14:51 IST   |    1 Comments
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San Francisco: There has been a debate over many years on whether mobile phones are harmful for human health or not. There have been many studies to prove both the case. San Francisco Department of Environment has convinced themselves that mobile phone are harmful for health and have decided to indicate radiation level of a mobile phone next to its price tag. The bill is endorsed and has full support of San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom, according to Digit. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has assured that all cell phones legally sold in U.S. are completely safe for consumer use but the Department of Environment is not convinced about it. The FCC has devised ways to ensure safety of its citizens by adopting limits for safe exposure radiation, which are measured in terms of the unit, Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), which indicates the amount of radio frequency absorbed by a person's tissue and brains while talking on the phone. The FCC ensures that all cell phone manufacturers adhere to the limit of 1.6 Watts per kilogram of body tissue, which is legal in the U.S. Some phones emit SAR as low as 0.2 per Kilograms. If the new legislation is passed then retailers would have to publish the SAR value as large as the price, and also explain what these SAR values signify. The city's environment commission is still debating the legislation, though it also needs the approval of Board of Supervisors to become a law. The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association has denied the idea of cell phones posing health concern to humans by pointing to various studies. They showed evidence by indicating the study by American Cancer Society that cell phones are not likely to cause cancer and to the World Health Organization's finding that cell phones aren't a risk to health. Newsom expects that the organization will fight this legislation.