Is San Francisco Overreacting to Injury Risks of Cell Phone Use?
June 21, 2010 – 10:47 am
Last week, the city of San Francisco went ahead and took a step that many cell phone makers and at least a few safety groups believe, is unnecessary. The city voted to require that all cell phone retailers have warning signs displaying the amount of radiation emitted by each device.
The law will require retailers to post a notice in at least 11-point type next to cell phones listing their absorption rate. This rate is the amount of radio waves that are absorbed into the user’s body tissue from the use of the cell phone. These are known as Specific Absorption Rates, and can vary from phone to phone. However, the Federal Communications Commission requires that all phones sold in the United States have Specific Absorption Rates that are below 1.66 W per kilogram.
San Francisco is the first city in the country to adopt an ordinance like this. The law is hardly a few days old at all, and not surprisingly to any class action attorney, has already seen plenty of criticism, most vociferously from the cell phone maker lobby. Not surprisingly, the cell phone industry views an ordinance like this as something that could affect its business. San Francisco city authorities disagree. They say that they only want people to have the information they need while making a shopping decision. They insist they are not encouraging people to stop using cell phones. However, they believe that shoppers must have all the information they need before they make a purchase.
San Francisco is very different from many major American cities in that an ordinance like this has even passed the city’s lawmaking process. More expansive bills have been defeated in other cities in California and in the state of Maine. The National Cancer Institute and the Federal Communications Commission agree that there is little scientific evidence proving the dangerous health effects of cell phones on human beings. However, these are not their final conclusions, and, both agencies continue to monitor studies into the effects of cellular devices on human health.
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