"FCC Changes Cellphone Safety Guidance"

"The Federal Communications Commission has changed its guidance to cellphone users worried about the health effects of wireless devices, dropping a long-standing recommendation that concerned consumers purchase phones with lower levels of radiation emissions.

The move comes amid a growing debate  over cellphone safety and coincides with efforts in some jurisdictions - most notably San Francisco - to require wireless providers to more clearly state the radiation emissions of the phones they sell.

The revisions were made last week, without any formal announcement, to a consumer fact sheet posted on the FCC's Web site. Consumer advocates criticized the agency for what they called a lack of transparency.

'A secretive change like the one that was just made raises questions of collusions with industry and does not help make the change credible,' wrote wireless industry consultant Michael Marcus in a blog on Public Knowledge, a public interest site.

An FCC representative declined to comment."

Cecilia Kang reports for the Washington Post September 30, 2010.