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By Caroline Woon

Daily Bruin Contributor

Speculation about health risks associated with using cellular phones means manufacturers will have to be up front with consumers about the level of radiation their devices emit.

Starting August 1, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, an organization that represents the wireless industry and issues certification for its member companies, is requiring cellular phone companies to submit radiation emission data, or risk losing certification.

The information will begin to appear on the packaging of new cell phones within the next three to six months, leaving manufacturers and some experts worried about the misinterpretation of radiation ratings by consumers.

“We have a high degree of confidence in the safety of our products,” said Norman Sandler, a spokesman for Motorola, Inc.

Sandler said cellular phones are already “designed, built and tested” in order to meet Federal Communication Commission certification standards.

“We report (this data) simply to show that we comply with required limits, not to suggest that one phone is safer than another,” Sandler said. “We take pains to discourage people from drawing those kinds of conclusions. If there isn’t any known health risk at the limit, there certainly isn’t any below the limit.”

Travis Larson, a spokesman for the CTIA, said cell phone users will have to be educated to interpret the new Specific Absorbed Radiation emissions data in order to avoid misconceptions regarding product safety.

According to Larson, the SAR rating is a cell phone’s maximum output, but radiation levels could vary with the conditions under which the phone is being used.

“Things such as battery power, proximity to the antenna, and even the angle at which you hold the phone can all determine SAR,” Larson said.

“We want consumers to understand this information. Hopefully they’ll read the educational material we’ve provided and they’ll see that the government has already said that all of these phones are safe.”

Larson said the CTIA’s decision to make the publishing of SAR data mandatory was based on this desire to keep cell phone users informed, not to mislead them.

“All cell phones currently sold in the U.S. are already certified, they already meet the standard. We simply want to put this information in the hands of consumers and let them make their own decisions,” Larson said.

In the meantime, scientific research on the dangers of using cell phones has been inconclusive, and often contradictory.

“Some studies suggest that something might be there, while others suggest that there is no correlation at all,” said Chris Cagnon, a diagnostic medical physicist at the UCLA department of radiology. “The best scientific knowledge we have to date is that we simply don’t know.”

Cagnon and others say undue emphasis is now being placed on the long-term effects of using cell phones, overshadowing its more immediate dangers.

“By far, the biggest hazard of using a cell phone is having an accident on the freeway, or being hit by a bus,” Cagnon added. “No responsible person could argue that the risk of anything else is higher.”

Jon Fernandez, a fourth-year economics student and cell phone user agreed.

“Everybody is worried about whether or not their phones are going to give them cancer, but most people out there have a higher chance of dying in a car accident due to the use of cell phones,” Fernandez said. “Do they really expose you to any more radiation than the computer you sit in front of all day, or the microwave you cook your food in?”