CTIA cites First Amendment protection of radiation levels The CTIA is arguing that a San Francisco ordinance demanding radiation levels be displayed on phone packaging breaches the First Amendment of the US constitution, and is thus illegal. Speaking to CNET, the wireless telecommunications organisation claimed that forcing shops to reveal the specific absorption rate (SAR) of phone …
Asides from this ridiculous attitude to consumer care the CTIA is losing credibility fast.
I've just returned from the CTIA annual wireless shingdig at the Orange country convention center in Orlando. This was considered the second best wireless industry event of the yearly calendar after MWC in Barcelona. Last year, in Las Vegas, it was good - This year It was totally rubbish - it looked more like a Sunday market with car-boot sale for smartphone covers and headsets.
Compared to MWC, which was a fantastic event, the CTIA was a total non-event.
Time to look in the mirror over there and make some hard decisions - or it will go the way of WiMAX.
Take the stupid carbon foot print thing in the Uk.
I bought an article the other day that was 80 carbon footprint something or others. Is that good? Bad? Is the world going to end just becuase I bought this product, or did I just save the would instead? Who knows?
So stick a label on.
Hey this phone has 1.5W/kg SAR.
Sure that'll help swing your choice.....
As there's no evidence of any link between cell phone radiation and, well, anything else. The State of Vermont attempted to impose a similar law in the mid-to-late '90s, requiring all retailers to label dairy products which were produced, or may have been produced, from the milk of cows given rBGH. The law was overturned on precisely these grounds.
Science isn't science unless it's peer reviewed and verified across different experiments and studies.
As such I'm not aware of any corroborated studies or scientific consensus leading to the idea that radiation from phones presents a problem.
Though wait a minute! If phone's give off radiation, doesn't that mean they can explode like nuclear bombs? You know, just like nuclear power plants? It's a conspiracy! Radiation is giving everyone cancer! ARGGHHH!!! Where's my Tinfoil hat!!!? *runs off*
Well, ONE way to deal with SAR vs the brain is to make cell phones lacking an ear speaker. Better yet, get rid of the mouth mic, too. Design it to REQUIRE a hands-free kit. This would kill two birds with one stone:
-- SAR on the brain
-- DWT, Driving While Talking on the cell phone.
I one does not talk with the phone close to the reproductive organs, this might be a third bird killed. But, a shield of some sort would probably still be needed if the phone radiation at standby becomes something to worry about.
Yes, Bluetooth is way lower power than the phone - but even so. (No, I don't really think so, but let's have the facts. Someone -may- make a dangerous cell phone one day. One 3G handset - metal - gets hot enough to cause a burn.)
I only guess, but I don't think freedom of speech applies because nobody is forced by law to sell phones. Those who choose to sell phones, are required to describe their radio energy output level.
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