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Cell Phone Radiation Emission Tests Assume Use of Belt Clip

Posted by timothy on from the like-everyone-uses dept.

jfruh writes: Most Slashdotters rightfully roll their eyes when people panic about the "radiation" put out by cell phone. But there is a germ of truth to some of the nervous talk: when the FCC assesses how much radio-frequency radiation a phone user will absorb, they work on the assumption you'll be wearing it in a belt clip, rather than putting it in your pocket as most people do. With the size of some recent phones, I think assuming use of a backpack might be just as realistic.

4 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Does not really matter. by LWATCDR · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pocket or clip we are talking about non-ionizing em radiation.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    1. Re:Does not really matter. by msauve · · Score: 3, Insightful

      " Who keeps their phone in a front pants pocket?"

      People who've broken a phone by sitting on it while it's in their back pocket.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  2. Re:Mechanism? by h0oam1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Once upon a time, almost no one had cell phones. Now, almost everyone does have them, and many use them constantly. To my knowledge, there has not been a statistically significant increase in the incidence of brain cancer between these two eras. I conclude from this that cell phone use cannot be much of a risk as a cause of brain cancer.

  3. Re:..and so? by timholman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm just not sure why we should care. There are no known non-thermal effects of microwaves, and the thermal energy of a cell phone just isn't enough to pay attention to-- three watts, when it's transmitting at full power.

    What makes it particularly ironic is that the same people who fear that their cell phones are harming them are probably deliberately exposing themselves to a source of ionizing radiation every time they walk outside in the daytime, i.e. the sun - a giant nuclear reactor that kills thousands of people each year from skin cancer.