[Press Release] Phonegate* : An Initial Victory with the Publication of SAR Values by ANFR

Contrary to all expectations, and in total breach of its previous public positions, the National Frequency Agency (ANFR) finally decided to publish the measurements of the Specific Absorption Rates (SAR) carried out to test compliance of the marketing of mobile phones.  It is an initial victory for our action towards more transparency in the health and industrial scandal which echoes Dieselgate.

ANFR press release

All users will thus be able to know the actual threshold levels of exposure to the waves of their mobile phones according to make and model (for example, in contact with the skin, an iphone 5 at 5.321 W/kg, a Huawei Ascend G300 at 5.382 W/kg, a Sony Xperia Z at 4.155 W/kg and a Nokia Lumia 530 at 6.57 W/kg).

SAR measurements

The manufacturers will now have to explain a SAR trunk value exceeding 2 W/kg in 9 out of 10 mobile phones tested in 2015 whose “compliance” indicated by ANFR is a mere formality.  In our opinion, it raises the issue of fairly lax European standards allowing the marketing in Europe of mobile phones that are a real danger to the health and safety of users.

It is now up to the public authorities and to the Minister for the Environment, Nicolas Hulot, and the Minister for Health, Agnès Buzyn, to act on these results by expediting prevention alerts to users and contacting the competent agencies, including the DGCCRF [Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention], in order to explore possible liabilities.

 *the origin of the term comes from Pierre Le Hir (Le Monde, 23 December 2016) « Soupçons sur les ondes des téléphones portables »