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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSmartphones may be leaking more radiation than we think
An investigation by the Chicago Tribune suggests iPhones and Galaxy models may exceed radio frequency radiation safety limits.
Apple and Samsung phones released over the last three years may be producing radio frequency radiation at levels higher than current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) limits allow, according to a report by the Chicago Tribune. Scientists and consumers have shown increasing concern radio frequency radiation from our devices may have adverse effects on human health, especially with 5G rolling out across the globe. The new report demonstrates older phone models, operating in the 3G and 4G bands, have the potential to exceed the FCC's safe limits by up to as much as five times.
Smartphone manufacturers are required to abide by the FCC guidelines in regards to radio frequency radiation absorption by the body. The current measure used to determine the safety limit is known as the "specific absorption rate," or SAR, and the FCC set this at 1.6 watts per kilogram (1.6W/kg), averaged over 1 gram of tissue. The FCC states that this limit is "well below that at which laboratory testing indicates ... adverse health effects could occur."
For a phone to receive approval, the FCC states that any device will never exceed the maximum SAR level, but the Tribune's investigation shows a handful of older models do.
The Tribune's extensive investigation tested 11 different models: Four iPhone models (the iPhone 7, 8, 8 Plus and X), three Samsung Galaxys (the S8, S9 and J3), three Motorolas (the e5, e5 Play and g6 Play) and a BLU Vivo 5 Mini. The phones were tested by RF Exposure Lab, an FCC accredited laboratory in San Marcos, California. The investigators placed smartphones within 2, 5, 10 or 15 millimeters of a "simulated body" -- a mix of sugar, water and salt -- and measured levels of exposure with a series of probes.
The results show that iPhone 7 radio frequency absorption levels were among the worst offenders, with a SAR almost two to four times higher than the safety limit when tested 2 mm from the body. The three Samsung Galaxy models also showed higher absorption at the same distance, with the Galaxy S8 topping out with a reading of 8.22W/kg, five times higher than the current standard.
The report states that the FCC will now conduct its own tests over the coming months but they told the Tribune the testing was "not as comprehensive" as those usually filed for official compliance reports.
The Tribune writes that the test "was essentially a worst-case scenario in terms of radio frequency radiation exposure" with consumers not experiencing the levels of exposure seen during testing. However, lab owner Jay Moulton did say this type of exposure "could happen in limited situations."
Where does that leave us?
There's no way to know if the readings from the investigation correlate with adverse human health effects. Currently, there is no strong scientific evidence that shows this level of exposure to be harmful. The investigation is only able to show that in these particular phones the SAR levels exceed the FCCs current limits. It is a small sample size.
There is some suggestion that the closer the phone is to the body, the higher the readings. But for a single test, every measurement at 2 mm from the simulated body was higher than from 5 or 10 mm. That does raise questions about the distance that manufacturers currently choose before their phone makes it to market.
The FCC also builds in a protective "buffer" for exposure limits. Although the tests exceed the current safety limit of 1.6W/kg, adverse effects are seen at levels on the order of 50 times more than the standard, according to the FCC.
As the investigation points out, phones often go into a low power state when brought close to the skin due to in-built sensors. The Tribune team did account for this in the Apple and Motorola phones, but not the Samsung Galaxy phones, including the S8 which provided the highest reading.
The FCC has been investigating whether this limit should revised in the wake of 5G phones coming to market, but on Aug. 8 declared the limit would not be changing. "The available scientific evidence to date does not support adverse health effects in humans due to exposures at or under the current limits," Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, wrote to the FCC at the time.
A Samsung spokesperson told CNET "Samsung devices sold in the United States comply with FCC regulations. Our devices are tested according to the same test protocols that are used across the industry."
Apple and the FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
https://www.cnet.com/news/smartphones-may-be-leaking-out-more-radiation-than-we-think/
Oppaloopa
(867 posts)governments cover up in the microwave industry.
Baitball Blogger
(46,700 posts)I hope they recall them and give us a rebate for a new one.
3Hotdogs
(12,374 posts)Ya don't have to wear it if you don't want.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,999 posts)Maybe I'll start placing my hankerchief between the case and my body for an extra 5 or 10 mm.
Another thing, take it out of your pocket when it makes sense to do so.
A phone in a purse, bag, or pocket book is much farther away. Thus guys as a group may be more at risk (though many women put phones in pockets too).
rainin
(3,011 posts)After 2 years of working 100 yards from a cell tower, with a cell phone on my desk, making calls all day on a wireless telephone, and a wifi under my desk (all the worst offenders), I developed electrosensitivity.
Now, I can't have cell phones in my house or I have symptoms. No wifi, bluetooth, or cordless telephones. We have hard-wired the computers and have shielded most of the rooms from the neighbor's signals.
When I get out (minimally), I can tell you from my pain when we are getting close to the towers. The interstate has electro pollution, I come home and collapse from exhaustion.
Electrosensitivity is real and people are getting sick.
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)And no they aren't.
EHS doesn't exist. People claiming to have it have uniformly failed to detect electromagnetism in double-blinded tests.
And it would seem odd that cell towers operating in the radio frequency bands are causing your problem and not, you know, the giant fusion reaction bathing the planet in infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma electromagnetism from 98 million miles away.
I don't doubt you have a problem, but cell towers probably aren't what's causing it.
Archae
(46,322 posts)Says she feels sick quite often.
I asked her when she was going to quit her 3-pack-a-day smoking habit, she denied smoking causes any health problems.
Every year I see articles like the OP, "Panic! Panic! Panic! Fear! Fear! Fear!"
Actual scientists look at these "studies" and nearly always find them to be bullshit.
Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)A lot of those problems are psychological. And while pain/discomfort caused by associations in the brain is no less real than pain caused by external stimuli, most doctors either dismiss the problem or don't even know where to begin with treatment. This leaves patients scrambling to formulate their own diagnoses. Because they have no idea what they're doing, they come up with crazy shit like "electromagnetic sensitivity" and "chronic lyme". Stuff that makes no medical or scientific sense whatsoever.
It's tricky because when people tell me "I experience this, this, and this", I believe they are experiencing that. But they don't know enough about science or medicine to come up with their own explanations.
Archae
(46,322 posts)People still have unquestioning faith in Wakefield and his "vaccines cause autism."
Laetrile is still for sale.
Acupuncture gets glowing testimonials, so does chiropractic and homeopathy.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)And while I won't ignore your post, I will point at it as an accurate example of ignoring the scientific method at your peril.
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)Lack of paragraphs gives me a headache. I learned about paragraphs in grade school but I guess some people were absent that day...
USALiberal
(10,877 posts)abqtommy
(14,118 posts)and providing a gentle reminder why. But just wait until I'm in charge!
hunter
(38,311 posts)I'll add spaces between paragraphs when I'm posting an excerpt that doesn't have them to begin with, or the blank-line-between-paragraphs style doesn't copy over.
Paragraph styles that work on paper don't work on electronic devices where text is automatically reformatted to fit the screen.
Coventina
(27,105 posts)hunter
(38,311 posts)Back when I was a feral human I didn't carry a wallet either, not even when I was driving. I used cash for shopping, but I also had debit cards with nothing printed on them. (Alas those are not an option at our credit union anymore.)
My cell phone is as basic as it can be. It flips open like a Star Trek communicator and costs $100 a year.
Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)Coventina
(27,105 posts)Tommy_Carcetti
(43,181 posts)Calculating
(2,955 posts)IMO all this Electromagnetic Sensitivity stuff is about as believable as the Anti-Vaxxer stuff. Radio Waves are literally the least energetic part of the EMS. The visible and UV light we're exposed to every day is far more powerful.
still_one
(92,174 posts)Leith
(7,809 posts)This whole kerfuffle about cell phone radiation causing cancer is based on one study out of thousands that produced a spike. The number of test subjects was small. The result was not repeated. All tests producing nonconclusive and opposite results were ignored.
Or take 3 1/2 minutes to hear a real scientist say the same thing: