Motorola Droid Maxx
The Droid Maxx is seen during the Verizon Wireless media event in New York July 23, 2013. Verizon Wireless announced on Tuesday the three new phones including the Droid Ultra and Droid Mini under its Droid smartphone brand from Google Inc's Motorola. Reuters

CNET just released a list of 20 mobile phones with the highest radiation being emitted or the highest specific absorption rate, or SAR, based on rating by the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC. Significantly, besides topping the list, the top three phones are all Motorolas.

FCC requires a maximum SAR of less than 1.6 watts per kilogramme for it to pass FCC certification and be allowed to be sold in the US, reports CNET. The Web site emphasises that the list implies that mobile phones are dangerous because of the radiation it emit. It also adds that it does not imply that having a lower SAR means a cell phone is safer.

Science is divided on the impact of radiofrequency on people. One group believes the radiation emitted by mobile phones places the user at a higher risk of cancer, while another group thinks otherwise. The World Health Organisation includes cellphones in its list of products that could potentially cause cancer.

Here is the top 10 with their respective SARs. The list was prepared by the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit organisation that makes available research and information on matters related to public health, reports Boston.com.

1 Motorola Droid Maxx – 1.54

2 Motorola Droid Ultra – 1.54

3 Motorola Moto E – 1.5

4 Alcatel One Touch Evolve – 1.49

5 Huawei Vitria – 1.49

6 Kyocera Hydro Edge – 1.48

7 Kyocera Kona – 1.45

8 Kyocera Hydro XTRM – 1.44

9 Nokia Asha 503 – 1.43

10 BlackBerry Z30 – 1.41

On the opposite end of the list, RFSafe notes that Samsung phones have low SARs because the South Korean-based tech giant adopted in 2006 an innovative antennae system that enhanced handset safety by radiating most of the transmitted RF energy away from the user and improving RF performance. The Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Model SM-N910V for Verizon logged the lowest with an SAR of 0.20.

To contact the writer, email: vittoriohernandez@yahoo.com

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