I am no scientist who can definitively tell you if cellphone radiation has a link to cancer but while reading about the Environmental Working Groups latest report on Wset I ran into some interesting information. BlackBerrys are some of the worst offenders when it comes to high levels of cellphone radiation.
The FCC requires that radiation be rated at 1.6 watts per kilogram or lower and some of RIM’s devices are pushing that limit. RIM takes the cake with 12 out of the top 25 spots and 4 out of the top 10 highest levels of cellphone radiation in smartphones. The irony is that the BlackBerry Storm 9500 & 9530 are number 8 and 9 in the list of smartphones with the least amount of cellphone radiation.
Things get even weirder when you consider that there is such a wide disparity between devices that are relatively similar. For example, the BlackBerry 8300 & 8330 push out 1.51 W/kg and 1.54 W/kg but the 8310 and 8320 push out 1.09 W/kg and 1.08 W/kg. I guess the new versions are hoping to improve.
Check out the full listings of cellphone radiation output for smartphones at the links below:
So what do you think? Is your BlackBerry frying your brain?
Sam J Not Registered
Posted: September 11, 2009 at 1:39 PM EST
It means they have the best reception.
Jones Not Registered
Posted: September 12, 2009 at 10:59 AM EST
That’s probably the most insightful conclusion you can draw from this data. The article is FUD; phone radiation is non-ionizing and long-wavelength. The health risk for even a large amount of power is insignificant.
It sucks that the europeans get all the good 2W/kg phones though.
mike068 ( View Profile) Beginner - Posts: 126
Posted: September 11, 2009 at 2:03 PM EST
The two links (lowest & highest radiation) levels above don’t work well for me anyways.
Ronen Halevy ( View Profile) Senior admin - Posts: 5298
Posted: September 11, 2009 at 3:30 PM EST
Sorry Mike it looks like that part of their website is down. Maybe try this later:
http://www.ewg.org/cellphone-radiation/
Maybe us drawing all this attention to the study is taking down the dynamic parts of their site.
toasted Not Registered
Posted: September 11, 2009 at 2:07 PM EST
another reason to switch to the iphone I guess
Nikolaus Walch ( View Profile) Enthusiast - Posts: 601
Posted: September 11, 2009 at 2:52 PM EST
Check the stats. The BB 8330 has the highest for sure, the Bold 9000 and 8300 are not far behind, but these are old. My new 8900 gets (1.01) gets less than the iPhone 3GS (1.2) or the iPhone 3G (1.4)! Newest iPhone gets more than the newer BlackBerry. Conclusion: Get a new BlackBerry
Nikolaus Walch ( View Profile) Enthusiast - Posts: 601
Posted: September 11, 2009 at 2:57 PM EST
And the Storm 1 has 1/2 the radiation of the 8900. I’d bet the Storm 2 will be similar making it pretty safe
Brandy R ( View Profile) Newcomer - Posts: 51
Posted: September 14, 2009 at 1:31 PM EST
I would be interested to see what the radiation stats are for the Tour.