The
Smaller The Phone, The Stronger The Rays
The Australian
Journalist: Annabel McGilvray
December 04, 2000
Some of the
smallest must-have mobile phones on the market are big on radiation, according
to the largest survey yet conducted in Australia.
The new study, which tested 28 mobile handsets, claims the latest Ericsson T28
– touted as "the first true shirt-pocket phone" – can zap its
carrier's head with nearly six times the radiation emitted by a Nokia 8850.
"What
can happen with the newer phones is, as they get smaller, you're in a
situation where the antenna is closer to parts of the body than it was
before," said Chris Zombolas, the study's author. Australian
electromagnetic-testing company EMC Technologies was commissioned to do the
report by Swiss consumer group K-Tip, which claims it is the largest such
study to have been conducted in Europe.
Up to 60 per
cent of Australians are now believed to regularly use mobile phones, with two
million sold in the nine months to September this year.
Young people
are the biggest customers, with mobile phones used by three in five Australian
18- to 39-year-olds.
Of the phones
surveyed by EMC technician Mr Zombolas, none breached international or
domestic safety standards, but radiation levels varied greatly according to
the design and power of each model.
"With
newer phones, they're very, very small so the antenna is a bit closer, so all
parts of the phone are a bit closer. So it's not surprising that you'll get
slightly higher results," Mr Zombolas said.
The emissions
are measured according to their specific energy absorption rates in watts per
kilogram, which calculates the amount of energy absorbed by the user's body.
The effects
of such radiation are still largely unknown.
But the
Australian Communication Authority says the rate at which energy emissions are
absorbed from the handset by the user must not exceed 1.6 watts per kilogram.
