San Francisco sued over cell phone radiation law

An influential industry trade group on Friday sued San Francisco in a bid to block the enforcement of the city's recent legislation that requires retailers to display levels of radiation energy emitted from cell phones.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, CTIA, a group representing wireless communication industry, said San Francisco's ordinance is scientifically unsupported and misleads consumers.

The ordinance, which was passed in June by San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, the city's legislative branch, requires cell phone retailers to disclose levels of radiofrequency energy from cell phones that might be absorbed by users.

It was reported that San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom has signed the law, which was the first of its kind for a U.S. city.

CTIA argued that all phones sold legally in the U.S. must comply with the U.S. Federal Communication Commission (FCC)'s safety standards for radiofrequency emissions.

San Francisco's ordinance misleads consumers by creating the false impression that the FCC's standards are insufficient and that some phones are "safer" than others based on their radiofrequency emissions, the CTIA said.

"San Francisco's attempt to regulate the sale of wireless handsets improperly intrudes upon the FCC's exclusive and comprehensive regulation of the safety of wireless handsets," the group said in a statement.

Source:Xinhua