Have you bought a new cell phone this Diwali, SAR?

Yes. Good!

If not are you planning to upgrade your cell phone?

What features would you look for in your future mobile?

I guess the things you would consider apart from your budget would be features like an MP3 player, a 3.0 Megapixel camera, Bluetooth, MMS, expandable memory, etc. Right?

But let me ask you this. Would you look for the SAR levels of the cell phone?

Chances are that you won't.

My guess is that you've heard this sometime, somewhere but don't recall and if at all you recall something you don't know much about it.
That's what an average consumer knows anyway.


So what's all this sour talk about SAR?

SAR stands for Specific Absorption Rate, which is the unit of measurement for the amount of RF energy absorbed by the body when using a mobile phone.
There are some standard permissible limits defined for SAR in most countries other than India.

"Now why should I know this?" must be your obvious question.
You should know it because it's related to your health.

The SAR levels vary as per your distance from the mobile base station, which means that the closer you are to the BTS, the lower is the RF emitted and therefore lower is the SAR.

SAR information for all Nokia phone models can be found at this link or here.

Largely unknown, and often ignored even by the most mobile-savvy , 'specific
absorption rate' or SAR is a count that specifies whether your mobile
radiates more or less than the permissible limit for radio waves. Knowing that doesn't improve your phone's capabilities, but it does have a vague correlation with your health. Vague, because the correlation is more suspected than proved medically. But since it relates to your health, it may be worthwhile knowing it because you carry your mobile and keep it beside you even while you are sleeping.


I have heard my friends say "A person's sperm count is related to the mobile phone's SAR!"
"What roobish!", I would say in Geoffrey Boycott style.

But it's scary, isn't it? But you don't have to worry yet. Because it hasn't been proven medically so far, although researchers are working on it.

According to an article in the ET,

US Std 1.6 Watts/Kg averaged over ten grams of tissue.
European Std 2.0 Watts/Kg averaged over ten grams of tissue.



For instance, no cellphone can officially be sold in the US if its SAR level exceeds the 1.6 W/kg (watts per kg) threshold fixed by FCC. In Europe, manufacturers have to ensure the maximum SAR level of a cellphone does not exceed 2W/kg — the safety limit fixed by the EU Council for public exposure from mobile phones.

It's worth mentioning that the use of device accessories and enhancements may result in different SAR values.

Therefore, unlike the US or Europe, the department of telecommunications (DoT), still not come out with safety standards on cellular radiation levels
Refer this link.
Although there is no scientific evidence yet to prove any considerable harm to the body, we can not rule out the effect of the radio waves' radiation.

So the next time you keep ur cell phone in your crotch, just give it a 2nd thought.