In previous blog posts we linked to a report that studies were inconclusive regarding cell phone radiation causing brain tumors, and a National Cancer Institute (NCI) report last month about the need for more research into environmental risk factors that could cause cancer. Well, leave it to San Francisco to blaze their own trail as they’ve become the first city in the country to require cell phone retailers to display the amount of radiation each cell phone emits.
Under the law, retailers will be required to post materials — in at least 11-point type — next to phones, listing their specific absorption rate, which is the amount of radio waves absorbed into the cellphone user’s body tissue. These so-called SAR rates can vary from phone to phone, but all phones sold in the United States must have a SAR rate no greater than 1.6 watts per kilogram, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
Read the full article in the New York Times, and op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd’s follow up asking are cell phones the new cigarettes?
What do you think, is this new law going to be helpful, harmful, or have no impact?
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