The unknown cost of cheap cellular phones

By Deo Musiige

It is not news anymore that cellular phones have become a must-have item in our daily lives. Today, you can hardly find a homestead without one.

This is commendable because cellular phones have helped improve and ease our lives in very many different ways.

However, in our African markets or developing world, where there is an enormous demand for low-cost devices, there is little or non-existing regulation/certification of these devices.

This can end up being catastrophic for the users in the near-future, as manufacturers, if not regulated, will always pursue the lowest possible manufacturing costs regardless of the possible harsh consequences on the users.

The combination of low cost demand and non-existing appropriate regulations, cellular phone vendors will always push the manufacturers to produce at the lowest price possible. The low price tags cannot be achieved without any cost.

Although the cost is not immediate, we can end up paying immensely in different perspectives in the near-future.

Very few people have ever thought about how they can wirelessly converse on cellular devices with someone miles away.

When talking on a cellular phone, the speech is "digitalised" and made transmittable by the phone modem.

During the transmission and reception operations of cellular devices, it is the electromagnetic waves that carry the information.

Due to the fact that these devices, in most cases, are held close to the ear during talk time, the interaction of the head and the electromagnetic field do cause heating effects in the head. This is the case, especially in the area around the ear or any body part in contact with the transmitting device.

I am very sure many readers have encountered this phenomenon.

The effects of heating may even be worse than anticipated when the production materials are compromised for the sake of keeping production costs at minimum.

In the worst-case scenario, the overheating surpasses the thermoregulation process of the affected organs and body parts.

The thermoregulation process helps the body maintain the same temperature. It has been scientifically proven that when the body's mechanism to regulate heat fluctuation is overwhelmed, it can cause produce chronic effects.

A quantity specific absorption rate (SAR) was defined to quantify the rate at which energy is absorbed per unit of mass in an object exposed to an electromagnetic field.

This quantity is being used by the western world to certify the cellular phones before they can be sold on their markets.

The electromagnetic exposure to partial body has been defined not to exceed a SAR of 1.6 W/kg averaged over 1g of tissue in the United States and 2 W/kg averaged over 10g of tissue in the European Union.

However, there seems to be no such regulations for the devices sold in developing countries such as Uganda. Hence, given the high demand of cheaper devices, producers are definitely going to compromise in whatever way possible in order to meet the low prices.

The responsible governments and institutions should do the necessary as soon as possible.

We have done a lot of research on this issue in the western world and I would recommend if we (in Africa) adopted the regulations put in place by either the United States government or the European Union.

The writer PhD holder in cellular phones' power and radiation emulation from the Technical University of Denmark in collaboration with University of Colorado