Users get chance to check figures on mobile-phone radiation

By CATHY ARONSON

Radiation ratings will be included with new mobile-phone packages by the end of the year.

Major suppliers including Nokia, Motorola, Vodafone and Ericsson have agreed on a standard way to measure emissions.

From October, users will be able to find details in the manuals that come with the phones.

The move follows international pressure from health organisations and consumer watchdogs over concerns that radiation can affect the brain, especially in children.

Companies do not now disclose radiation levels but the emissions must be below Ministry of Health standards.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the Consumers' Institute have been pushing for labelling for the past year.

Consumers' Institute technical adviser Hamish Wilson welcomed the move, but said the companies should print the radiation levels on the outside of the package instead of inside in the manual.

"It's like labelling food," he said. "Consumers don't have time to open the box and read a leaflet."

Mr Wilson said consumers could now compare emission levels.

The radiation will be measured by a SAR (specific absorption rate), which indicates the amount of energy from a mobile phone absorbed by body tissue in watts per kilogram. The safety limit is 2.0.

Ericsson spokeswoman Alison Crosbie said the radiation levels had always met international and New Zealand safety standards. The SAR rates would provide more detailed information.

The SAR value, which was highest when dialling but less after connection, would be the maximum value instead of an average.