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The European Commission has adopted a new standard requiring cellphones to be tested for radiation while touching the body — which is how people actually carry and use cellphones: in a pocket or against the skin.
Until now, phones were tested at a distance of 5 millimeters (mm) — about 0.2 inches — from the body. The new rule sets that distance at zero.
In what Environmental Health Sciences called a “world first,” the commission published the change on Sept. 7 in the Official Journal of the European Union, according to a press release from the France-based wireless radiation watchdog group Phonegate Alert.
However, the change won’t take effect until March 7, 2028, to give manufacturers time to transition.
Dr. Marc Arazi, Phonegate Alert’s founder and president, told The Defender the change is a “historic victory for European consumer protection and the culmination of nearly 10 years of campaigning against cellphone radiation testing protocols that failed to reflect real-world conditions of use.”
But Arazi also criticized the European Commission for giving telecommunication companies 18 months to transition to the new standard. “Why give manufacturers another 18 months when regulators have known about this problem for years?” he asked.
In 2020, France filed a formal objection against the European standard (EN 50566:2017) that allowed cellphones to be tested at 5 mm distance from the body.
Arazi told The Defender that in December 2025, the commission wrote to him, confirming that France’s objection had triggered the discussions that led to the commission’s decision last month to require testing at a distance of 0 mm. The Defender reviewed the letter, which Arazi requested not be made public.
76% of cellphones exceeded radiation limit when held next to skin
For years, Phonegate Alert has been fighting to force regulators to change the distance used when testing cellphones, Arazi said.
“Our whistleblowing and advocacy played a decisive role in bringing about this victory and compelled French health and political authorities to take action at the European Commission.”
France has a strong post-market surveillance program for cellphones, according to Environmental Health Sciences. The French National Frequency Agency (ANFR) buys cellphones on the market and independently tests their radiofrequency (RF) emissions to determine if they violate the EU’s limit.
Cellphone radiation is tested by measuring what’s called the specific absorption rate (SAR), which calculates how much RF radiation human tissue absorbs.
The European SAR limit is 2 watts/kilogram, according to Phonegate Alert’s press release. As of 2019, ANFR data showed that 76% of all cellphones on the European market exceeded that limit when touching the body.
Over the years, many cellphones also failed to meet the regulatory limit when held 5 mm from the body. As of Aug. 3, the ANFR had identified 65 cellphone models that were withdrawn from the market or had their SAR emission updated via software due to exceeding regulatory limits, according to Phonegate Alert.
For example, France in 2023 temporarily banned Apple’s iPhone 12 for emitting RF radiation levels above the legal limit.
‘The United States needs to catch up’
Miriam Eckenfels, director of the Children Health Defense (CHD) Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) & Wireless Program, called the European Commission’s decision a “positive step” and encouraged U.S. policymakers and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which oversees cellphone radiation testing, to follow suit.
Theodora Scarato, director of the Wireless and EMF Program for Environmental Health Sciences, agreed. She wrote in a statement:
“The United States needs to catch up with the rest of the world on this. For years manufacturers could choose what distance they radiation test their phones at.
“Now the FCC is signaling a shift with interim guidance that restricts the distance to 5 mm. However, companies can still choose the older guidance and hotspot radiation tests can use up to 10 mm.”
The FCC’s regulatory limit for cellphone radiation is an SAR of 1.6 watts per kilogram. But the agency’s own cellphone radiation test results — which Scarato obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request — show a cellphone that meets the limit when tested at a manufacturer’s chosen distance can exceed that limit when tested closer to the body, Scarato said.
The FCC refused to make its own testing results public, she added.
In a Jan. 12 letter to Congress, Scarato urged lawmakers to question the FCC on its lack of transparency and enforcement of cellphone radiation safety limits.
Children absorb more wireless radiation than adults, new study shows
The European Commission’s decision follows on the heels of a new study, published Sept. 2 in Physics in Medicine & Biology, showing children are especially vulnerable to cellphone radiation.
The study used 550 computer simulations to compare how much wireless radiation child and adult body models absorbed across 15 RF frequencies spanning 5G and anticipated 6G wireless technologies.
The authors found that child models’ whole-body radiation absorption rates were 1.5-1.9 times higher, at frequencies below 6 gigahertz, than the rates for adult models.
At higher frequencies, the child models absorbed more radiation in their brains compared to adult models.
The findings align with a 2018 study that found children can absorb up to 30 times more RF radiation in their hippocampus and 10 times more in the bone marrow of their skull compared to adults.
The authors of the new study also found that simulated 5G frequencies caused beamforming — which occurs when 5G RF signals form a narrow, directed beam. Beamforming created wireless radiation “hotspots” in the body.
At some frequencies, the hotspots exceeded absorption limits in both child and adult models, even though the radiation reaching the skin was within the regulatory limit.
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HHS needs to hear from the public by next week
Eckenfels said the new study highlights how much still needs to be addressed. “We are rolling out technology with higher and higher frequencies, having very limited data on the health impacts — especially when it comes to children.”
Now is the time to speak out, she said. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is seeking public input through Oct. 21 on the possible harmful effects of RF radiation on human health and the environment.
CHD created an action alert that walks people through how to submit a comment to HHS.
The FCC is also seeking public input through Oct. 22 as it responds to a 2021 federal court order requiring the agency to address evidence and concerns about the adverse effects of wireless radiation on human health and the environment.
The court order also required the FCC to provide a reasoned explanation for its decision to retain cellphone testing procedures that allow for a separation distance. CHD created another action alert for how to submit a comment to the FCC.
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