A post about cell phones, and not a single mention of the iPhone?

Is using a Bluetooth headset any better than having the phone up by my ear? Am I trading one type of radiation for another?

@zigziggityzoo:

How is that possible? I thought the earth revolved around the iPhone or is that the other way around?

Cell phone companies, ready to launch D.O.S. attack in 3...2...1...

If this is the same article on Gizmodo.... The radiation was measured in Watts/Kilogram. What difference does the weight of the phone make?

But what are the phones that admit the most amount of radiation? Those are the ones I want!

@eirrom:
From CNET:
Bluetooth devices transmit signals via a short-range radio frequency. That frequency operates at a much lower power level than your phone, so the threat from radiation is insignificant. Also, like cell phones, Bluetooth headsets disperse their signals in random directions, rather than in a straight beam.

I would like to see that correlated to dropped calls. Unfortunately, I'm sure the only ppl with that info is the cell companies, and I'm pretty sure they will never release it...

@eirrom: From everything I've heard, it may be worse. A guy I kno who, doesn't want radiation stuck against his head, uses a wired headset and keeps the cell phone on the table, seat beside him.

@Gnort: I've heard that a wired headset is worse as it directs the radiation up the wire. Who knows.

If only the list was longer - I'm sure Zack Morris's saved by the bell phone grabbed that #11 spot.

I carry a Samsung Impression in my front pocket. Maybe thats the reason my children where born with their hands and feet turned around backwards.

@zigziggityzoo: How dare you call the iPhone a "cell phone".

The website is toast!

"The jury is still out on whether cell-phone radiation is something consumers should worry about." Says who? Everything I've read about it says it is nothing to worry about. Got to love Carrie posts.

The website is down.

In other news, the picture reminds me of the episode where Homer discovers the pens with the disappearing clothes.

Meh. Until I hear of a study by an organization without the words "Environmental", "Green", "Eco", or any other nonsense in their name, I'll keep using my phone without worrying.

[en.wikipedia.org]
Advocacy Groups push their own agendas. This groups seems to enjoy fear mongering under the guise of protecting "public health and the environment."

@meske: @Gnort: @eirrom: I love it when no one has any idea about something, and they all float their own theories.

@tbax929: you are an inglorious exception.

@eirrom: You probably ought to use the headset anyway if you're on the phone for long periods of time: [www.cnn.com]

@Raekwon: Kind of like the jury still being out on that whole "global-warming" thing.. oops I mean "climate change"

The scientific consensus is that low power non-ionizing radiation, like that emitted by a cell phone or any other consumer wireless device, had no effect whatsoever on human health. And unless you are standing 2 feet in front of a radar array, there is likely no way you could ever receive a high enough power dose of radio energy to do anything to you. Even the active element of a microwave oven, once you remove it from the tiny cube it works in, would have pretty much no effect on the human body. And if it did, well it would hurt and you would know to get the hell away from it. Wouldn't give you cancer or anything though.

@Pibbs: Whether they think that radiation causes cancer or not has no bearing on what levels of radiations the cell phones emit.

It is another matter if it is something you should be considering or not while buying a cell phone.

@ogremustcrush: So I should unplug my portable USB radar array?

@Smashville_makes his own comments at home:

It's not a cell phone, it's a Personal Communicator.

Wish I would have known that BEFORE I sprouted another eyeball.

Let me see if I understand where this is coming from. The EWG is a group that makes its money telling people things are dangerous. If they failed to find dangers, they're raison d'etre would vanish. And they'd be out of work.

So I'm supposed to just take their word for it, when they tell me cell phones are dangerous? Yeah right ...

I'm waiting for the rankings of cell phones by smugness emitted.

@SteveBMD: Thats easy -
1) iPhone
.
.
.
.
1,000,000) Every other phone

So who is the Environmental Working Group a front for?

If people are so worried about this they should stop tethering themselves to their ubiquitous cell phones. That would solve the problem. And by the way....don't live near overhead power lines either.

Complete BS. Quit contributing to public ignorance by acting like all radiation is the same.

Cell phones emit RADIO WAVES, as in, the same thing as that 101.7 KROK station that bombarded you while you were in the womb or that wireless router you have sitting next to you. Look up a model of the electromagnetic spectrum and you'll quickly see the relationship between cancer-causing radiation and wavelength - UV, Gamma, and X-Ray are all on the opposite end of the spectrum from radio and microwaves.

@ogremustcrush: It would help to clarify that even if you did receive a high power dose from a radar array, the effect would be intense heat, not cancer.

@Raekwon: I'm guessing the "jury" is a jury of our peers, who think that RADIATION is some sort of boogeyman and not a well-understood, basic physical phenomenon.

I mean I guess you could say that the jury is still out on whether blue light is more harmful than red light if you're a complete moron.

@segfault: It's a PC? So that means their commercials are essentially making fun of themselves? Crazy

I always get irritated when some "expert" drops in and says that there is no way mobile phones cause any biological damage at all and that only a moron would think that.

Few would say cigarettes don't cause cancer based on a study of smoking one cigarette a week for a year. I would also doubt many people would believe a study proving the safety of cigarettes if it was largely funded by the tobacco industry. That's exactly what's going on with mobile phones -- most studies are industry funded and there is significant difference in results between those and the ones that aren't industry funded. But somehow, if anyone alleges potential bias there, that's crackpot theory.

If you want to err on the side of caution, just minimize your use. Really. It's not that difficult. I haven't used a cell phone in several days and I'm doing ok. Come on in, the water's fine.

Cell phones causing radiation is BS.

Who cares about what phones emit the least radiation, I wanna see which ones will boil my brain while i'm on hold with tech support!

@segfault: I'm going to go ahead and say with this app, it's a Communicator.

@zigziggityzoo: Gods' creations don't emit radiation. The exude beneficent love.

@Pibbs: ...While corporations always look out for the long- and short-term interests of their customers.
Aww, heck. Problems solved! May as well shut down Consumerist today!

@blacklice: My mom's first cellphone was one of those.. I still laugh. She used to stuff it in her hugemungus purse..

@MostlyHarmless: I should have been more specific, I was referring to the title of the article by the Environmental Working Group, "Limit your exposure to cell phone radiation".
@Trai_Dep: I'm not defending the corporations. I'm just against fear mongering without scientific facts backing it up.

@AllanG54: Yes. And PLEASE stop buying them for 4 year olds. Yeeesh.

@Vandelay Import Export: Commies and libruhls.

@wkm001: The kilograms is the mass of the talker; essentially, the larger the person, the more of that phone's radiation absorbed.

@Raekwon: Metastudies show that the data are firmly inconclusive. It's probably best to minimize exposure as much as practical and not worry about the rest.

@chris_d: The thing is that in order to show causation, you need a reason why something would cause something else. Inhaling a whole bunch of particles has a good reason to damage your lungs. It does not have a good reason to be damaging your toes.

We are bombarded with radiation in the radio spectrum constantly, and being near a cell phone would hardly increase that. Sitting near my wireless router, or my laptop, or my cordless landline phone, or being within range of a TV or radio station.

If radio bombardment causes cancer like this, it seems odd that we don't see really strong clusters of cancer around people who work in buildings with really powerful transmitters. If radio waves cause cancer, you would expect almost everyone working in the Empire State Building (one of the most powerful radio broadcasting towers in the US) to develop cancers.

@ogremustcrush: You say that but then I've read studies done by Swedish Scientists that say otherwise. Id have to wager a guess that any type of radiation will cause damage over time.

@parad0x360: Well, maybe, except for cosmic background radiation:
[en.wikipedia.org]