At the end of June, San Francisco passed an ordinance (which the mayor indicated he will sign) that requires cell phone retailers to disclose the phones' specific absorption rate, or SAR, to customers. SAR measures the maximum amount of radiation absorbed by a person using a cell phone.
The FCC limits SAR to an average of 1.6 watts per kilogram of body tissue, but information about radiation levels is not usually readily available when people purchase phones at stores.
Predictably, cell phone industry executives are opposed to the measure.
