It took two years forInnovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED ) to provide our local correspondent, Sharon Noble, with a list of the specific absorption rate (SAR) levels of dangerous Canadian cell phones tested between 2016 and 2021.
This is another victory for Phonegate Alert , our international NGO, as well as for Dr. Marc Arazi who revealed the scandal in 2016. Our warmest thanks go to Sharon Noble, whose tenacity finally made it possible to communicate these important data.
Transmission of a list of 90 smartphones controlled by the Canadian authorities
Sharon ‘s work was made possible through the Access to Information Act (The Act). In an email dated March 25, 2022, l’ISED finally transmitted to him a list of ninety smartphones checked. This number of 90 represents an annual average of about 20 tests – by comparison, France tests an average of 70 per year (so barely 15% of the cell phones put on the French market!).
A-2020-00915 Responsive RecordsA large portion of the cell phones tested in Canada came from manufacturers, the rest were taken from store shelves. Although many of the best-known brands were tested, only two smartphones from Apple were included, which, given the brand’s leading position in the North American market, seems to us to be insufficient.
GOOGLE smartphones are particularly dangerous
Of the ninety cell phones, eight of thems, or nearly ten percent of the total, had a non-compliant SAR above the regulatory level set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The SAR head for 1 g of tissue must not exceed 1.6 W/kg, the same limit for the SAR trunk; for the SAR limb, for 10 g the limit is 4 W/kg.
CAN List phones 28 Mar FrenchThese limits are known, and yet the results of two smartphones manufactured by Google LLC (Pixel 3a) are particularly worrying since the checks performed in 2019/2020 show head SAR of 5.27 W/kg and 4.02 W/kg for 1 g respectively. These are some of the highest levels we have seen since we forced the Agence Nationale des Fréquences (ANFR ) to publish more than 750 test reports. The SAR trunk are also above the regulatory levels (2.89 W/kg and 1.82 W/kg).
ISED indicates that a software update has been requested from Google LLC to allow a return to compliance levels, but no further details on the new SAR levels.
Manufacturers Xiaomi and Razer already pinned in France
For Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi, the Redmi Note 7 smartphone was pinned in 2019/2020 for exceeding trunk SAR (2.33W/kg). L’
ISED
decided not to allow the marketing of this device in Canada, extending the ban to various distributors. Note in passing that the smartphone
Redmi note 5
has been checked for exceeding the SAR head by the ANFR, without being withdrawn from the French market.
Finally, the control in 2020/2021 of the Razer Phone 2 of the Californian manufacturer Razer also showed particularly high SAR levels (trunk 4.35 W/kg, limbs 5.41W/kg). ISED has requested a software upgrade but to date there is no information on its status. The Razer Phone 2 has been withdrawn in France and Denmark.
Health Canada gets the safety factor wrong
ISED reports that it has surveyed
Health Canada
regarding these SAR exceedances. The latter would consider that the SAR levels measured do not affect the health of users. To reach this conclusion, the health agency continues to assume that there is a safety factor of 50 surrounding the local SAR. Which is perfectly false and a lie of State(s) as we now know!
This is what our Canadian correspondent, Sharon Noble, is reacting to:
“After the revelations of SAR checks in France in 2017, and then the revelations of independent testing in 2019 by journalist Sam Roe for the Chicago Tribune on the most sold cell phones in the USA, here is finally the communication by theISED of the list of dangerous smartphones controlled in Canada. This is a great step forward for more transparency. However, we must now put an end to a lie ofThirty year old state letting believe that there is a safety factor up to 100 W/kg for users. This will be our next fight!”
For Dr. Marc Arazi who is at the origin of the revelations of the “Phonegate” scandal:
“The culture of secrecy surrounding the SAR testing of cell phones speaks volumes about the economic, political and industrial stakes, which clearly take priority over public health issues. The most serious aspect of this case is that Canadian users of these non-compliant and dangerous cell phones have never been informed. It is high time they were!
On the same subject:
https://phonegatealert.org/france-liste-des-telephones-portables-retires-ou-mis-a-jour-pour-tromperie-et-mise-en-danger-des-utilisateurs
