Cell phone radiation levels?

The New York Times has an article today on levels of radiation emitted by cellphones, including lists of best and worst phones.

As I recently reported in my Well column last week, the data on cellphone safety is mixed, although a few recent international studies have suggested a link with three types of brain tumors. The Food and Drug Administration also says there’s not enough information to determine conclusively whether cellphones are safe or unsafe.

Gee, don’t you think it would have been a good idea to figure that out BEFORE equipping millions of people with cellphones, not to mention building huge RF-emitting towers in our backyards?

It seems people may be reawakening to this issue. As I’ve mentioned before here, some have called cellphones & wifi the biggest experiment in human history. Kind of scary!  

The NYT article links to a study and detailed ratings of cell phones over at CNET. Where does your phone fall? My phone, the staid LG VX5200 (pictured above), came in at a rather high 1.23 SAR (Specific Absorption Rate, as in how much radio frequency your body absorbs). Many phones (including the iPhone) are under 1. The FCC does not certify phones over 1.6. (Hmm, maybe I can leverage this with Jess to let me get a new phone!)

Yes, much of the fears are speculative at this point. But I’m concerned that this technology will continue to proliferate (WiMax anyone?), and only THEN will we figure out what it’s really doing to us. 

Hold on, I’ll have to finish this later, my phone is ringing…