San Francisco Delays Cell Phone Radiation Labeling Vote; Supervisors Discuss Industry Lobbying Effort 2

This legislation is based on the premise that everyone has an equal right to an healthy and safe environment….We all have the right to complete and accurate information on potential human health and environmental impacts associated with the products we use. Ultimately the burden to supply this information lies with the manufacturer or retailer. There continue to be outstanding concerns over the potential health effects of cell phone use…Given this uncertain environment, the cell phone radiation disclosure ordinance will give people the information they need to make choices and decisions.

Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier:

There are some concerns that have been brought up both by our city attorney and some of our small businesses…We want to make sure that the proper information is being displayed and that its being done in a way that our small businesses can work with it in a reasonably quick and efficient way. A couple of concerns have come up from the city attorney’s office about liability, and because of those two things I’d like to ask for a one-week continuance on this item.

Starr Terrell of Mayor Newsom’s office:

The Mayor introduced this legislation in January, and having it considered for this long has served this legislation well – we’ve had a chance to hear from a number of stakeholders … also the industry has put in a number of amendments to address their concerns. The mayor feels strongly about moving forward with this legislation.

Supervisor Maxwell, again:

I’ve met with a lot of small businesses and industry folks and a lot of their concerns were addressed. If we look what Senator Leno has gone through, this is probably a tactic. This is what they do, time and time again. There is always some issue, some reason why we should not go forward. Colleagues, we need to go forward with this (applause).

Dept of the Environment representative:

We did work consistently with the small business community and the small business commission to address the concerns of small business. We added an implementation period and an educational period…and we will work with small businesses to make sure labeling is as easy as humanely possible.

Starr Terrell, again:

The major item the telecommunications industry asked for was that we remove from the legislation any requirement that retailers post the individual SAR level for each phone at point of sale. Since that is the point of the legislation, we could not do that.

Supervisor David Campos:

I’m probably leaning toward supporting this legislation, I think from a consumer protection point of view that I like providing the public more information..The Mayor of San Francisco is willing to go down the road with this legislation which could raise federal legal issues with respect to cell phones but is not willing to do that with immigration.

Supervisor Alioto-Pier, responding:

This isn’t a tactic, we’re not trying to kill this legislation. I, like, Supervisor Campos am leaning more toward supporting rather than not supporting it. But it puts San Francisco in a legal knot if the information written on the warnings is in any way incorrect…Right now, as well all know, our small businesses are being hurt. We don’t want to hold the cell phone up to our head – the legislation doesn’t really talk about ways to fix that problem. [Editor’s note: the legislation does require retailers to provide information about cell phone use, such as what is now available on the FCC website.]

Supervisor John Avalos:

I’m prepared to vote on this today, I think we’ve had a pretty thorough discussion of it, its been on the pending calendar for a long time. I actually did my due diligence and met with many people on the telecommunications side, a lot of lobbyists, had practically every telecommunication company in my office at the same time, including Apple, a manufacturer, and then today we’ve had a full court press from the telecommunication industry. To me, if we are going to pass legislation like this, we need to pass it at the local level. Its easy to pass at the local level because the influence of the telecommunication industry is not quite as strong, although it has great influence here. Then we can actually make a road toward enacting legislation at higher levels of government, and I think we have a responsibility to do that. There is reasonable doubt about the long-term effects of cell phone use, I have concerns about my own cell phone use and try and mitigate that as much as possible. There is material that is referenced in the ordinance that discusses ways that people who use cell phones can protect themselves. I do believe we had a thorough discussion and would be interested in voting on this today.

Supervisor Carmen Chu:

This is an item that came multiple times before us. We did have very long conversations about how to best mitigate the issue. I voted in committee to move the legislation forward. I am supportive of a continuance…We did receive lots of emails from a lot of small businesses who are really anxious about the legislation. I do want to take an extra week to allay their concerns…At the end of the day, we should support legislation like this moving forward.

Supervisor Eric Mar:

As a parent that just bought my kid a cell phone without considering SAR level, and also concerned about my own use, [this] is a very educational tool and about public awareness…I’m very supportive of the effort. I was ready to vote on this today. I hear some of the arguments made by my colleagues that a little more time couldn’t hurt…I’m not as concerned about the big retailers and formula stores, [but] unusual and different requirements on small businesses is something I think we can look at.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi:

I’ll support this legislation. I don’t particularly see the rationale for a continuance . This body has led the charge nationally on truth in advertising on many consumer products that are disseminated through the point of purchase retail system that requires truth in advertising and sunshine. The immediate reflex of the business community is always that it will undermine or subvert business, and the sky has not fallen. Based on a number of laws that we have passed that have proven consumers and people benefit from information about products they are going to use, digest, and ingest, [I believe] this will be consistent with that past record…I think this will be another chapter in corporate influence in trying to undermine our ability in protecting the consumer.