Critical Assessment of Controversial “ Which?” Protocol Used to Test Mobile Phone Hands Free Kits

This paper provides an assessment of the Which?/ERA report no, 2000-0382 [1] downloaded from the Which? website on 5 November 2000. The report analyses the measurement protocol that was used by Which? to support their controversial finding that the use of Hands Free Kits (HFK) with mobile phones leads to a three fold increase in radiation exposure to the brain. That report also claimed that Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) measurements, currently used to evaluate the exposure levels in the brain from mobile phone radiation, are somehow flawed. This paper gives an overview of SAR measurement procedures, highlighting deficiencies and major flaws in the Which? protocol. The test data derived from the previous Australian Consumers Association (Choice) study [2] utilising properly calibrated SAR probes, are used to confirm that the use of HFK greatly reduces exposure at the head and ear. It is shown that the SAR measurement method is technically justified for the evaluation of the level of radiation exposure from both mobile phones and HFK and that the Which? study was fundamentally flawed leading to the incorrect conclusion.