sar

Later today, a Federal Appeals Court judge in San Francisco will hear arguments in the long-simmering legal battle between the city and the wireless industry. The outcome will be significant, not only for San Francisco, but also for states and other cities around the country.

As CNET's Maggie Reardon reports, the tussle started two years ago when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a groundbreaking resolution mandating that cell phone retailers display a handset's Specific Absorption Rate (or SAR) at the point of sale.

That quickly irked the CTIA, the cell phone industry's lobbying arm, which … Read more

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a democrat from Ohio, introduced a federal bill today that would put warning labels on cell phones and create a national research program to study cell phone radiation levels.

H.R. 6358, named the Cell Phone Right to Know Act, would also require the Environmental Protection Agency to update the standards for specific absorption rate, or SAR, the amount of radio frequency energy absorbed by the body when using a cell phone.

"It took decades for scientists to be able to say for sure that smoking caused cancer. During those decades, the false impression created by … Read more

The reality of cell phone radiation Buried deep in the pages of your cell phone manual is an often-ignored section on Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), which is the measure of the amount of radio frequency (RF) energy (radiation) absorbed by the body when using your handset. Every phone is measured and rated, and in the U.S. and Canada, the maximum allowable SAR for any handset is 1.6 watts per kilogram. For our database of current cell phone SAR ratings, be sure to check out our ongoing chart on Cell phone radiation levels.

What we don't know, though, … Read more

Buried deep in the pages of your cell phone manual is an often-ignored section on its Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), which is the measure of the amount of radio frequency (RF) energy (radiation) absorbed by the body when using your handset. Every phone is measured and rated, and in the U.S. and Canada, the maximum allowable SAR for any handset is 1.6 watts per kilogram. For our database of current cell phone SAR ratings, be sure to check out our chart of cell phone radiation levels for specific phones.

What we don't know, though, is whether or … Read more

With just two weeks until CES, most of the wireless industry is busy making final plans.

We've already told you what we think will happen with tablets and smartphones in Las Vegas, and if carriers and manufacturers have their way, we won't know anything official until the show begins.

Forgive me, but patience is not a virtue in this case. So to get a peek at what might come at CES, I dug through the last couple weeks of filings with the Federal Communications Commission for any clues about new devices. And as it turns out, there was … Read more

San Francisco and the CTIA are at odds yet again now that the wireless association has formally challenged cell phone warning legislation that the city passed earlier this year.

In a statement released Tuesday, John Walls, the CTIA's vice president of public affairs, called San Francisco's actions "both alarmist and false" and disputed any suggestion that the radio frequency (RF) emissions produced by cell phones have detrimental health effects. "The FCC and FDA have repeatedly found that cell phone use does not pose a danger," he said. "The Ordinance recommends such things as … Read more

Outside of the battle between iPhone fans and Android advocates, few debates in the cell phone world are more divisive than that over whether the radio frequency (RF) energy emitted by cell phones is harmful. Though the industry and some members of the scientific community insist that there is no danger, other researchers and a growing number of public officials believe that there is cause for concern. No consensus exists, and as CNET has reported, any agreement or firm evidence may not come for a long time, if it does at all.

In the meantime, some CNET readers will feel more comfortable erring on the side of caution. If you're concerned, you can use a headset, text instead of talk, and limit calls when your carrier signal is low (more RF energy is emitted when a phone is working harder to reach a tower). Yet, since that advice isn't always practical, Pong Research has another solution, with a case that is designed to refocus RF energy, or radiation, away from your head while not reducing signal strength. So in other words, you can use your phone just as you normally would.

If you think that sounds like pseudoscience, I don't blame you. Honestly, I've never taken seriously the cheap radiation "shields" that you can find online. Usually nothing more than tiny stickers, I didn't believe that they did anything, except spread a false peace of mind. Few of the products backed up their claims with solid proof, and, even worse, some can actually interfere with your cell phone's signal. That's why I was pretty skeptical when I first heard of the Pong case. But as it turns out, the company has done its homework. … Read more

Just when you thought the legal battles between the CTIA and the city of San Francisco were over, it appears that the fight may continue.

In an interview today, a spokesman for the wireless industry's trade group told CNET that the organization is strongly considering challenging a new city law that requires San Francisco retailers to post informational notices that cell phones emit radiofrequency (RF) energy and offer fact sheets to consumers who request them.

John Walls, CTIA's vice president for public affairs, refused to say exactly what legal recourse the group is considering, but that it is … Read more

Editors' note: This story was originally published June 2. It has been updated with new information.

Though the science on the possible health effects of cell phone radiation is far from conclusive, several state and local governments are proposing legislation to address public concerns. And though no law has been implemented yet, it's clear the issue isn't going away.

How we got here Maine largely led the way in early 2010 with a bill that would have required warning labels that cell phones may cause brain cancer. That legislation later died in a Maine House of Representatives committee, … Read more