The CTIA has begun legal proceedings after the city of San Francisco passed a law requiring phone manufacturers to admit how much radiation their handsets emit.

The CTIA is arguing in its legal briefs that the city has no right to mandate such information when it is the job of other bodies, such as the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to decide. Since the FCC has concluded that all phones it approves are safe then the ordinance breaks the law.

Given the amount of media hype over the amount of radiation the brain receives from mobile phones the suit is understandable. After all, holding an electronic device directly to the brain could be seen as dangerous.

But Sleuth thinks this is more about a desire to see the end of league tables on radiation rather than a genuine concern for consumers. No-one wants to be at the head of a radiation list, even if the amount of potential damage is no worse that our brains have received from 80 years of radio and TV broadcasts.

24 Jul 2010