"John Smith" wrote in message
...
at just what power intensities should we begin to worry and expect damage?
One-watt, ten-watts, one-hundred-watts, one-kilowatt, multi-kilowatts?

There are guidelines available for this from the FCC -- it's a function of
exposure time, frequency, and of course power. The numbers have been around
for many decades now, and you might recall some questions about it showing up
on your license exam.

That being said, I'm not suggesting more studies aren't in order, just that
many people have a very mistaken impression that there aren't already many,
many studies that have tried to ascertain "safe" exposure levels to RF.
(Another thing most people aren't aware of is that cell phone antennas are
usually specifically designed to *not* radiate "into" the head. Ham radio
antennas usually aren't, yet you see plenty of folking holding up a 5W HT to
their mouths...)

Decades of living with "safe radiation levels" established for atomic
elements sources which were "re-evaluated" to downward levels many times has
made me a bit more cautious than yourself ...

Life today is far, far safer overall than it was decades ago. Anything like
"safe RF exposure levels" is always going to be a bit subjective, so producing
e.g., 1 additional tumor in a population of a million has to be weighed
against saving 100 lives from having a phone handy in an emergency. (I'm just
making up the numbers here, of course, but you get the point.)

---Joel