San Francisco mulls cell phone radiation labels

The city of San Francisco has proposed a measure that would post radiation levels of cell phones right next to their price tags.

Though there’s no conclusive evidence that cell phones cause cancer, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said the information should be available to consumers at the point of sale, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The city’s environment commission is debating legislation, which would have to be passed by San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. The commission is also considering a ban on cell phone use in elementary schools, also because of radiation concerns.

Cell phones sold in the United States aren’t allowed to exceed a “Specific Absorption Rate” set by the Federal Communications Commission at 1.6 watts per kilogram of body tissue. The rates for individual phones is readily available online — CNet has a convenient list by manufacturer.

The problem is that those numbers are meaningless to consumers. It’s not like the calorie counts posted at fast food restaurants in New York, where a glance at the menu can help you make healthier decisions. There’s definitely a link between obesity and eating high-calorie foods, but the marginal difference in Specific Absorption Rate in one cell phone versus another could be meaningless.

In other words, displaying cell phone radiation could be misinformative. Confronting shoppers with this information gives the impression that certain cell phones are more harmful than others, but we don’t even know if they’re harmful at all. I deal with this in California all the time, because the state puts warning labels all over the place. Without proper context or more details, what are consumers supposed to do with that information?