National consumer-rights law firm FeganScott consolidated its two proposed class action suits against Apple and Samsung Electronics after independent testing from a Federal Communications Commission-accredited laboratory confirmed that radio-frequency (RF) radiation levels from popular Apple and Samsung smartphones far exceeded federal limits when the devices are used as marketed by the manufacturers.
Beth Fegan, managing partner of FeganScott and the attorney representing the consolidated suit, which was filed after the firm hired the industry-recognized lab, says that smartphone manufacturers must take responsibility for misleading consumers about the levels of RF radiation emitted by their smartphones when used against or in close proximity to the user’s skin.
“The manufacturers told consumers this was safe, so we knew it was important to test the RF radiation exposure and see if this was true,” Fegan said in a statement. “It is not true. The independent results confirm that RF radiation levels are well over the federal exposure limit, sometimes exceeding it by 500 percent, when phones are used in the way Apple and Samsung encourage us to. Consumers deserve to know the truth.”
The FCC-accredited lab tested six different brand-new smartphone models at various distances, ranging from zero to 10 millimeters to measure the amount of RF radiation released when touching or in close proximity to the body. When tested at two millimeters, the iPhone 8 and Samsung Galaxy S8 were more than twice the federal exposure limit. At zero millimeters, the iPhone 8 was five times more than the federal exposure limit, and the Samsung Galaxy S8 was more than three times the federal exposure limit.
The consolidated suit filed by FeganScott includes a comprehensive list of all named plaintiffs and includes the extensive FCC-accredited lab test results from all the smartphones tested: iPhone 7+, iPhone 8, iPhone XR, Galaxy S8, Galaxy S9, and Galaxy S10.
The test settings reflected the smartphones’ actual use conditions, rather than the conditions set by manufacturers in order to produce results that appear to be safe for consumers.
“Smartphone owners across the country deserve to know that the RF radiation levels from smartphones when touching the skin or used close to the body may be unsafe,” Fegan noted. “The emails and calls from concerned consumers have increased as more research comes to light, and it is our goal to show that Apple and Samsung were aware of the alarmingly high radiation levels when their products arrived on the market.”
According to Pew Research Center, 96 percent of Americans own a cell phone, and of those, 81 percent own a smartphone. Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization, reports that 29 percent of American teens sleep with their phones in bed with them, which makes the radiation level findings especially alarming.
Filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division, the lawsuit seeks to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone owners. The suit asks the court to order the defendants to pay for medical monitoring and damages.
Source: FeganScott
MacDailyNews Take: This case seems to stem from a report from The Chicago Tribune back in August which alleged that Apple iPhone and Samsung and other phones’ radio-frequency radiation levels measured higher than FCC legal safety limit.
At the time, FCC officials told the Tribune that they would examine some of the phone models in the newspaper’s investigation.
For perspective:
How cellphone radiation compares with other types
Different kinds of electromagnetic radiation travel at different frequencies and wavelengths. At one end of the spectrum, gamma rays and X-rays have known health effects. Cellphones rely on radio waves, and the potential for harm from long-term exposure is less certain. Here are the types of electromagnetic radiation and some common technological uses:
Sources: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago Tribune reporting
Chad Yoder and Kori Rumore / Chicago Tribune
I still don’t see any proof that these devices violate the federal standards. The standard provides for measurement at 10 mm, but the plaintiffs are measuring at 2mm. Inverse square law suggests that measurement 5 times closer will increase the intensity by 25 times. As well suggest that lightbulbs aren’t safe if you place them 2mm from your eyeball. That is true, but irrelevant to any established safety standard.
You expect big gub’mnt to protect you?
Ha, of course the law firm is named Fegan, just like the crime boss in Oliver Twist!
In an honorable twist worthy of CitizenX, we are renaming our law firm in his erstwhile honor.
Hmmm
Good suit.