San Francisco poised to require cell phone radiation labels in first-of-its-kind law

San Francisco poised for cell phone radiation law

SAN FRANCISCO — Cell phone retailers would have to post the amount of radiation emitted from their phones under a proposed city ordinance poised for final approval Tuesday.

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors was set to vote on the first-of-its-kind ordinance, which would require stores to disclose the specific absorption rate, or SAR, of each phone they sell.

Supervisors voted last week to give preliminary approval to the law, which is backed by Mayor Gavin Newsom. The mayor, who uses an iPhone, is expected to sign the ordinance within 10 days if the board passes it.

“From our perspective, this is a very reasonable and quite modest measure that will provide greater transparency and information to consumers for whom this is an area of interest or concern,” said Newsom spokesman Tony Winnicker. “We’re playing a role that we’ve often played, which is to be at the forefront of a debate.”

Opponents say the city is perhaps too far ahead of the issue.

“They’re just responding to unfounded concern,” said John Walls, a spokesman for CTIA-The Wireless Association, an industry trade group. “Publishing an SAR level will not — according to the scientific evidence that we know today — it won’t inform your decision or lead you to a better decision with regards to safety.”

The city’s ordinance would require cell phone providers to give their retailers a list of SAR values for specific phone models. Those retailers would then have to post those values — and federal SAR limits — in their stores. Larger chains would have to comply by February, and other stores would have until 2012.

Violators would face fines of up to $500.

SAR measures the maximum amount of radiation absorbed by a person using a handset. The Federal Communications Commission limits SAR to an average of 1.6 watts per kilogram of body tissue, but information about radiation levels is not usually readily available when people purchase phones at stores.

Whether or not the radiation produced by cell phones causes cancer or other health problems is still a matter of debate among scientists.

A major U.N. study released last month found no clear link between cell phones and the risk of developing brain cancer.

Renee Sharp, the California director of the Washington-based Environmental Working Group, said she hoped the law would dissuade consumers from buying relatively high radiation phones until the science is clearer. The advocacy group provided reports and other counsel to the city’s Department of the Environment as they developed the policy.

“We’re also hoping it will spur greater debate about whether the current federal standards are adequate or not,” she said. “We certainly don’t think that people are not going to buy cell phones because of radiation.”