INDEPTH: CELLPHONES
Cellphone Radiation
CBC News Online | June 3, 2004
What's behind those SAR numbers?
Cellphones are safe - according to the companies that make them. Not
everyone believes that.
Depending on how close your cellphone antenna is to your head, you could be absorbing as much as 60 percent of
the microwave radiation generated by your phone. Some of that radiation will seep as far as two to four centimetres into your brain.
The issue is a growing concern as cellphone use around the world explodes. In Canada, approximately nine million people use Cellphones. That
total grows by more than 5,000 people a day.
This issue of cellphone safety has been the subject of several studies. All have come to the same conclusion: there is no scientific proof
that cellphone use leads to brain tumours. Those studies tend to come with further conclusions like the issue needs more study.
In May 2000, a British report recommended that even though there is no proof that exposure to microwave radiation from Cellphones is
a health risk, cellphone use by children should be limited.
The report, commissioned by the British government, suggested there may be "subtle effects" on brain function.
The report points out that children are at risk because they have thinner skulls, smaller heads, and their nervous systems are still developing. It goes on to suggest that mobile phone companies should not market to those under 16 years old.
One of the world's foremost experts on cellphone safety is Dr. George Carlo. He headed a $27 million study in wireless phone safety that
was funded by the industry.
In October of 1999, Carlo wrote to AT&T chairman Michael Armstrong warning that despite the studies, it was still not possible to declare wireless phones safe. He urged the industry to make sure consumers have access to as much information about microwave radiation as possible, so they can decide how much of this unknown risk they're willing to assume. Armstrong also advised cellphone makers not to repeat the mistakes of the tobacco industry, by not being forthright about the possible health effects of their product.
Now, the world's biggest cellphone manufacturers will begin putting special numbers on their phones indicating the amount of radiation being produced.
Nokia of Finland, Ericsson of Sweden and Motorola of the United States are about to include an SAR (specific absorption rate) number indicating how much radio frequency each phone gives off.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has set a safe standard for cellphone radiation of 1.6 watts per kilogram of human tissue.
The cellphone manufacturers will include a statement in their packaging stating all phones with radiation levels below the FCC standard
of 1.6 are equally safe. That's meant to address concerns by cellphone makers that people will base their phone-buying decision soley
on which phone has the lowest SAR number.
Health Canada has come up with its own guidelines, called Safety Code 6, last revised in 1999.
Steps you can take to minimize the risk
The FCC and Health Canada both say the risks - if there are any - from cellphone radiation are minimal. But there are steps you can take
to minimize what risks there may be.
- keep your cellphone conversations short - radiation exposure increases with the length of your conversation
- don't use a hand-held unit if your mobile phone converations have to be long
- check your phone's SAR through the FCC's database (you'll need the FCC ID number from your phone - sometimes you'll have to remove the battery to find it) The database is good for phones built in the past two years.
Figures from the American Cancer Society suggest that 6 out of every 100,000 Americans will be diagnosed with brain cancer every year. The FCC says as of December 2000, there are 80,000,000 Americans using Cellphones. Using the cancer society figures, 4,800 new cases of brain cancer will be diagnosed every year among users of Cellphones - whether or not they used their Cellphones. A key question is whether the risk of getting a particular form of cancer is greater among people who use mobile phones than among the rest of the population.
That's the question the American Cancer Society hopes its study will answer.
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