SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco on Tuesday moved a step closer to becoming the first city in the nation to require that retailers post in their stores notices on the level of radiation emitted by the cellphones they offer.
The Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 to give preliminary approval to the proposal. Final approval is expected next week. Mayor Gavin Newsom plans to sign it into law when it reaches his desk.
Cast by backers as a pro-consumer measure, the ordinance will not ban the sale of certain cellphones but will make retailers provide the “specific absorption rate” — a measurement of radiation registered with the Federal Communications Commission — next to phones displayed in their shops. Consumers also will be notified about where they can get more information.
“This is about helping people make informed choices,” said Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, chief sponsor of the legislation.
But a trade group for the cellphone industry said the law could lead to confusion.
“Rather than inform, the ordinance will potentially mislead consumers with point-of-sale requirements suggesting that some phones are ‘safer’ than others, based on radio-frequency emissions,” John Walls of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association said after the vote.
The potential long-term health impacts of cellphone use, particularly on the brain, are still a matter of scientific debate.
