It can get pretty confusing to know what’s good or bad for you. Whenever the scientific community starts to get behind one theory or another, naysayers always emerge that challenge the mainstream thinking. Fat is bad — wait, some kinds are good. Drink lots of water. Um, but doesn't it have fluoride and chlorine? Lead paint was once widely used, but it's since been linked to everything from Alzheimer’s to learning disabilities. In generations past, smoking was even encouraged by doctors as a pain reliever.

Now there seems to be debate about wireless devices and its impact on the human body. There are scientists on all sides researching whether cell phones emit radiation that causes cancer. While the jury may still out on that one, there are plenty of people who want to play it safe, just in case.

If you fall in that group, a recent report from the US Environmental Working Group (EWG) might interest you. In it, the organization identifies the top 10 phones that emit the most radiation, the majority of which tend to be smartphones.

To come up with the list, EWG measured the SAR (or Specific Absorption Rate of radiation from device to body) of several handsets. While none on the list exceed the international community’s acceptance limits for exposure to the head and trunk of the body (2W/Kg), bear in mind that there’s been some argument over whether this SAR is safe enough.

The 10 phones with the highest radiation rankings are:

1. Motorola MOTO VU204 - 1.55 W/kg
2. T-Mobile myTouch 3G - 1.55 W/kg
3. Kyocera Jax S1300 - 1.55 W/kg
4. Blackberry Curve 8330 - 1.54 W/kg
5. Motorola W385 - 1.54 W/kg
6. T-Mobile Shadow - 1.53 W/kg
7. Motorola C290 - 1.53 W/kg
8. Motorola i335 - 1.53 W/kg
9. Motorola MOTO VE240 - 1.52 W/kg
10. Blackberry Bold 9000 - 1.51 W/kg

The 10 lowest radiating devices are:

1. Samsung Impression (SGH-a877) - 0.35 W/kg
2. Motorola RAZR V8 - 0.36 W/kg
3. Samsung SGH-t229 - 0.38 W/kg
4. Samsung Rugby (SGH-a837) - 0.46 W/kg
5. Samsung Propel Pro (SGH-i627) - 0.47 W/kg
6. Samsung Gravity (SGH-t459) - 0.48 W/kg
7. T-Mobile Sidekick - 0.50 W/kg
8. LG Xenon (GR500) - 0.52 W/kg
9. Motorola Karma QA1 - 0.55 W/kg
10. Sanyo Katana II - 0.55 W/kg

BlackBerry’s popular Curve and Bold are on the upper echelon of radiation emissions, Samsung handsets seem to weigh in on the lower side, while Motorola is all over the scale. iPhone users (like myself) may notice that our handset of choice isn’t on either list. When EWG conducted its testing, the object of scrutiny was the 3G, whose maximum score of 1.19 W/kg placed it firmly in the middle.

Can earbuds help reduce exposure to the head? Again, this isn’t clear. Many scientists seem to think so, but some experts believe that, through induction, headphones can actually provide a link for radio frequencies to travel from the phone to the ear.

Wow. Contrary to what this researcher indicates, texting actually might be better than calling. Suddenly, SMS never seemed so attractive to me.

[The Ecologist via 9to5Mac]

P.S. Shout-out to dylabooty: Hope you catch this item, since it follows up your comments in the previous post nicely.