The Hands Free headset Controversy...

This file is to summarize a report from April 1999 by the UK Consumer Association (CA), a reputable institution, which reported that hands free headsets that were tested actually increased radiation exposure (Microwave News, 1999). This report has created a stir in the already turbulent industry in regard to health issues.
A bit of background will help those unfamiliar with the issue at hand...others please bear with.

The cellular phone industry has adopted a standard model for measuring how powerful the radiation levels are for a given phone which uses an artificial head which is filled with a fluid which is similar in consistency to brain tissue. This head is equiped with probes that attempt to measure the extent to which the radiation absorbs. This is NOT a living model and should not be considered conclusive for testing the bioenergetic affects of a cellular phone. Standards derived from these tests are fully accepted in the industry! This is a test which measures absorbtion of RF (radio frequency) energy for health concerns within an industry that still maintains that there are no health affects (ridiculous if you look at the data)! The real quesion is what these health affects are and not whether they exist but the industry will not touch this issue until they are forking out money in court on class action lawsuits. Very reminiscent of the cigarette issue that went on for years of denial by the tobacco companies before a settlement was finally reached...

The CA is being scrutinized because they abandoned this seemingly inadequate model and tested headsets using the artificial head but instead of measuring the energy "absorbed" by a given amount of tissue as the "SAR" (Specific Absorption Rate) standard model does, they measured the electric and magnetic field strength 4 cm inside the simulated head at 902MHz. It was these measurements that produced electric field strengths much higher (triple) at the headset earpiece than measured with the phone held to the head.

My point here is twofold:
Measuring absorbed energy in "Living" model would be one thing (if even possible) but given the extent of life in the model how do we really know how much energy will actually be absorbed into the brain of a truly living person's head? We don't as far as I can see so the closest thing that we can really use to judge this would be looking at the actual field strength of the electric and magnetic fields. This is actually a much more meaningful measurement given the uncertainty of the model head. If the simulated head has a high field strength within it then there is a problem and this seems to be what the CA had found.

Some are skeptical about this study but the CA stands firm by their report. I believe there are some definite areas where the study falls short and it should therefore be replicated ASAP.

My speculation (comments welcome) is that when a headset is attached into a cell phone it becomes part of the antenna and is therefore an alternate transmission line due to its conductivity and direct connection to an RF transmitter! This new transmission line terminates to a small speaker (earpiece) which should be expected to have a strong electric field due to the transmission. The soft tissue of the ear is the only part of the head unprotected by the skull yielding a direct path to the brain for any potential affects! Should we learn more before we possibly compound a possibly dangerous situation? Are there some simple solutions?