Do you think Smartphones can cause cancer? Well, although phone do emit radiations because of the radio waves, these radiations are not strong enough to cause a change in DNA, according to research that has been carried out.
Well, don’t rejoice yet.
So far, no direct link has been established between cancer and smartphones. However, the fact still remains that smartphones are carcinogenic (having the potential to cause cancer). It’s just that radiation from them is not strong enough to fry DNA.
The key question, however, now becomes just how strong is the radiation coming from your phone. Every electronic device emits a small amount of non-ionizing radiation measuring around few REMS and the amount absorbed by the body between a specific time period is known as SAR value i.e Specific absorption rate (SAR). In simple words, if you want to know how much radiation your phone is putting out, you need to figure out its SAR value.
How to check your phone’s Radiation (SAR value)?
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US has set a SAR level of 1.6 W/Kg for phones. This means phone below 1.6W/kg is considered good.
In order to measure the SAR value, one should look behind the packaging of their cell phone. It is mentioned there. You can also find it on the website of your phone maker.
There is another way, a much easier way. Although this seemingly works only on Android phones.
To check your Android Phone’s Radiation:
- On your Phone, open the dialer or phone app.
- Now dial *#07# on your phone.
- This will show you the SAR measurement of your device as specified by the manufacturer.
- If the above code doesn’t work, go to Settings > About Phone > regulatory Information.
So how much SAR is better?
Lower is better, although as noted earlier FCC in the US considers SAR level of 1.6W/kg good enough. So don’t worry if your phone has a SAR value of 1.2 or something like that even though most phones are nowadays in the range of 0.5 to 0.6.
At the same time, you can limit the exposure phone radiation by using earphones with mobile when you are talking and limiting the usage of mobile devices.
Also, usually bigger phone brands tend to have phones with lower SAR value.
