The FCC is reviewing RF safety standards and has set the final deadline for public comments this Tuesday, September 3, 2013.   To read the comments already submitted, see this FCC website page.  See this page for information on how to file comments.

The current standards do not protect health.   They were set up (as Joel Moskowitz writes) by “engineers and physical scientists” from industry groups and are outdated.   When they were set up, the FCC ignored recommendations from its own health agencies. For example, in the case of cell phones, they approved the industry backed cell phone power density of 1.6 rather than the health agencies’ recommendations that it be 1.0.  The FCC also, Moskowitz writes, in its current testing of radiation absorption rates for users of cell phones “failed to enforce its [own] guideline,”  which says that devices need to be tested as they are used,  and instead allowed tests to be done with the phone held an inch from one’s head, which is not how most people talk on a phone.

I’m not sure how good a job the FCC will do in setting standards to protect public health. They seem to go out of their way to accommodate industry, even going so far as to reclassify the ear as an “extremity,” which will then allow for higher radiation exposure levels to the head.  Also the nomination of Thomas Wheeler, an industry insider, to head the FCC  is not encouraging.  They may even raise the exposure levels.

Here are additional directions from Arthur Firstenberg  about how to submit comments:

“Comments sent by U.S. mail must be postmarked by September 3, 2013, the day after Labor Day. Title your submission, “Comments on Notice of Inquiry, ET Docket No. 13-84.” Send the original and one copy to:

Office of the Secretary
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th St. SW, Washington, DC 20554

Comments sent electronically should be sent by September 3, 2013 on this webpage: http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs. (Click on “Submit a Filing” if the filing page does not immediately open). Type in “13-84” in the box for “Proceeding Number.” Write “Comments on Notice of Inquiry, ET Docket No. 13-84″ at the top of your attached comments. You can attach Word, PDF, or Excel files.

Comments without attachments may be sent on this webpage: http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/hotdocket/list. Clicking on “13-84” will take you to a simplified filing page.”