By Amy Gahran, Special to CNN
August 8, 2012 -- Updated 2115 GMT (0515
HKT)
 |
The FCC was asked to
consider updating its standard to allow cellphones to emit up to 20% more
radiation.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The FCC is asked Wednesday to consider updating its cell phone
radiation standard
The new standard would allow U.S. cell phones to emit up to
20% more radiation
The question was presented to the FCC in a new Government
Accountability Office report
It also asked the FCC to test for cell phones being used next
to the body, not just at the ear
Editor's note: Amy
Gahran writes about mobile tech for CNN.com. She is a writer and media
consultant based in Boulder, Colorado whose blog, Contentious.com, explores how people
communicate in the online age.
(CNN) --
The U.S. government is being asked to update its 16-year-old cell phone
radiation standard to bring it in line with current research and the way people
use smartphones.
A new Government Accountability Office report
on Wednesday asked the Federal Communications Commission to consider updating
the standard, which limits the amount of radiation a phone emits. The report
recommended following an international standard, which would allow U.S. cell
phones to emit up to 20% more radiation than currently allowed.
The GAO also asked the FCC to consider
updating its cell phone testing procedures to account for phones being used
while next to the body -- such as in a pocket or held in your hand -- rather
than only testing how phones emit radiation when held up to your ear.
While people still often use cell phones
for talking, these devices have evolved into small portable computers and
multipurpose tools. It's now common to see people using cell phones as media
players kept in a pocket and used with earbuds or a wireless headset, or held
in the hand while checking Facebook or getting directions from Google Maps.
"Current testing requirements for
mobile phones may not identify the maximum radio frequency (RF) energy exposure
when tested against the body," said the report. "FCC testing
requirements state that mobile phone tests should be conducted with belt-clips
and holsters attached to the phone or at a predetermined distance from the
body.
"By testing mobile phones only when
at a distance from the body, FCC may not be identifying the maximum exposure,
since some users may hold a mobile phone directly against the body while in
use."
The FCC allows cell phones and other
wireless devices to emit up to 1.6 watts per kilogram, averaged over 1 gram of
tissue. That's the maximum specific
absorption rate (SAR), a measurement of the amount of radio
frequency energy absorbed into the body -- information that phone manufacturers
must provide to U.S. consumers. FCC developed this limit back in 1996, based on
input from several federal health and safety agencies.
A decade after the FCC published that
standard, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a global
organization that sets standards for electrical devices, published its own
recommendation for a maximum SAR of 2.0.
Since then the FCC's lower limit has
remained in force, which complicates matters for phone manufacturers and may
increase costs to consumers.
The GAO noted: "Maintaining the
current U.S. limit may result in additional costs for manufacturers and impact
phone design in a way that could limit performance and functionality." To
comply with the FCC's limit, some manufacturers also may have to disable
features on phones sold in the U.S., according to the GAO.
Some consumer groups told the GAO they
don't think the info provided by federal agency websites about mobile phone
health effects is sufficiently precautionary. Also, some said they'd like the
FCC website to mention the World Health Organization's controversial
reclassification last year of radio frequency energy exposure as "possibly
carcinogenic."
The GAO looked into the issue of
revisiting cell phone radiation standards at the request of three high-ranking
congressional Democrats: Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Anna Eshoo and Henry
Waxman of California.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/08/tech/mobile/cell-phone-radiation-fcc/index.html
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