If you’ve heard about the risk of mobile phone radiation causing cancer, then you can appreciate RF exposure phenomena. While cancer risk from mobile phones is yet to be definitively proven, the current position by regulatory and industry participants is one of encouraging minimized exposure as much as possible. The health and safety concern isn’t limited to mobile phones, but extends to other devices that intentionally radiate radio energy and may come in close proximity to persons either in a workplace or public environment, such as retail Electronic Article Surveillance equipment. Microwave ovens are an obvious example of how radio energy from radiation heats up food items placed in them, where energy transfer from the radiation results in heating of the food items. Nonetheless, ionizing radiation from X- Rays with electrons split from atoms and molecules is known to carry far more significant health risks than non-ionizing radiation from radio energy, due to higher energy levels transmitted.

The commonly used measure of the rate that radio energy is absorbed by the body is the Specific Absorption Rate or “SAR”. And depending on the product use, body part proximity, and operating frequency, different Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) levels are recommended or set by respective agencies based on the threshold levels that harmful biological effects are possible.

Limits and guidelines that these devices are evaluated to are issued by national and international entities as FCC OET, ICNIRP, CENELEC, ARPANSA, IEEE. Standards, guidelines and various regulatory/quasi-regulatory groups on RF exposure include: