People already grapple with complicated information when they buy mobile devices. But San Francisco consumers soon will face one more consideration — cell phone radiation — as the result of a precedent-setting law that delights public health advocates and enrages the wireless industry.
The city recently passed the nation’s first local ordinance that requires retailers to post radiation-emission data.
“There’s enough information out there that long-term (cell phone) use may increase the risk of certain kinds of cancer,” says Mark Westlund, spokesman for the San Francisco Department of the Environment. “We believe consumers have a right to know” which devices are most and least risky.
Supporters hope San Francisco’s initiative will blossom into a national movement. For example, manufacturers may see low radiation as a selling point once consumers find it easy to compare emission levels. Other lawmakers could pass their own versions of the ordinance.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, is preparing a federal bill that would require manufacturers to note on packaging how much radiation models emit. It also would create a national research program to determine what levels should be deemed safe.
“I’m sure the (wireless) industry will be fighting this,” says Renee Sharp, director of the California office for the Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy group. “But we do think a major conversation has been started.”
Chatter about the issue likely will take off in February when retailers in San Francisco will be required to include, in displays near each phone, the maximum amount of radiation that the model emits. That’s measured in what’s known as the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), which reflects how much energy human tissue absorbs from a device’s electromagnetic waves.
Manufacturers already report that information to the Federal Communications Commission, which limits wireless devices to an SAR level of 1.6 watts per kilogram of tissue. But the FCC…