The SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) of cell phones is supposed to protect the health of users. This is still not the case! Also, on the recommendations of the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), France has therefore referred to the European Commission to propose a measurement of SAR in direct contact with the body. But, two years after the announcement of the Government, nothing has changed yet.

For our part, we denounce since 2016, a European regulation that allows manufacturers to put in the hands of their customers, cell phones dangerous for their health. Thus, the SAR of cell phones was measured, until June 2017, at a unrealistic distance from the body with its use and can go up to 2.5 centimeters from the skin. Yet today, SAR is still measured at 5 millimeters from the trunk.

SAR cell phone tests, each millimeter counts

 

However, each millimeter of distance between the cell phone and the body will increase the SAR level. This is shown by the tests conducted in 2019 by the Chicago Tribune on the Apple iPhone 7.

For example, when the accredited lab places the smartphone 2 mm from the skin instead of 5 mm, as in a pocket, the SAR of the iPhone 7 reaches 7.15 W/kg. The regulatory limit is 1.6 W/kg in the USA and 2 W/kg in Europe for SAR head and trunk.

So for a difference of 3 mm, the SAR is multiplied by 4. It would be even higher measured in direct contact with the body!

In this regard, the table below from the investigative work of journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Sam Roe is eloquent:

Tests SAR Chicago Tribune

SAR tests Chicago Tribune

Moreover, the action of Dr. Arazi before the Administrative Court has revealed similar SAR results for hundreds of controls of cell phones conducted, between 2012 and 2017, by the National Frequency Agency (ANFR) .

For its part, ANSES published in October 2019, a report entitled “Exposure to mobile telephones carried close to the body” . The agency recommends measuring the SAR trunk at zero millimeters from the skin. Subsequently, the Government has committed to it by way of a press release.

France files a formal objection to the European Commission

 

Thus, having no news of the progress of this governmental promise, Phonegate Alert wrote to Mr. Gilles Brégant, Director General of the ANFR to obtain it. Here is the formal objection made by France to the European Commission.

Formal objection from France

However, the official application was only filed in September 2020…. , almost a year after the ministerial announcement. This delay, in view of the public health issue at stake, deserves some explanations. Even more seriously, the application appears on the Commission’s website with the mention “deadline exceeded”…

For Dr. Marc Arazi who launched the Phonegate alert in July 2016:

“We are satisfied that the government has respected this commitment. However, nothing has yet been put in place to change the regulation of SAR measurements. The time to protect the health of millions of cell phone users is now. The French government and the European Commission must act as soon as possible. We will see to it!

On the same subject :

Phonegate: Dr Arazi’s alert launched at the European Parliament