I hope this is not true...

Ok. If you have read my earlier posts, there is a mention of the movie - "The Happening". In the film, Mark Wahlberg asks his students for potential causes for the sudden wiping out of bees from earth. There were quite a few views that were put forth but I thought most of them had no scientific basis.
However, while surfing the net today, I found this article that spills some logic to the whole scenario. According to it, certain scientists claim that the reason for the decline in the number of bees is the harmful radiations that are emitted via the mobile handsets. Doesn't seem too relevant the first time you read it right? But try reading the entire article here to see if it makes sense.
As if that piece was not enough, I happened to be skimming through the forwarded mails in my inbox and found this link. See it to make fun and laugh but do think about the serious consequences. This seems crazy enough but if true, can be really scary. So, I thought I would try and do some research on the same lines.
My research started with the basics -I wanted to know how harmful was my handset. Did it have the potential to damage the tissues in my brain? Where there any workarounds because I don't think its a practical enough idea to just not use one. So I checked on a few sites and the specifications of my set as well. There were numerous bits of information that I gathered along and you can continue to read on to find those.

I begin from the beginning. I am assuming half of the people reading this post are not aware of what an SAR is. For the benefit of those who don't - SAR - "Refers to Specific Absorption Rate and indicates the amount of radiation that is absorbed by the head while using a mobile handset. A higher SAR depicts higher amount of radiation and vice versa".
For a more scientific definition - "An SAR value is a measure of the maximum energy absorbed by a unit of mass of exposed tissue of a person using a mobile phone, over a given time or more simply the power absorbed per unit mass. SAR values are usually expressed in units of watts per kilogram (W/kg) in either 1g or 10g of tissue."

Now that the definition is clear, the more obvious question would be what do we mean by a lesser SAR and does my cell phone have the lesser one? According to a new piece I read, Indian government shall soon force vendors in India to specify the SAR levels on handsets as is done in the West. But this does not solve the problem. I still don't know the acceptable levels.

So, the next safest option would be to try and compare the SAR levels amongst phones that are sold in the West (at least for self satisfaction). I see that my cell - a Nokia N73 displays an SAR of 0.92 W/kg.
Australia and US place the higher limit for SAR value as 1.6 W/kg while Europe requires it to be 2W/kg. There seems to be some sort of a deviation between my N73 and the European standard, but I guess all that this would signify would probably be that it'l just take a little longer for the radiations to affect the tissues of my head.
Anyway, a few work-arounds that could probably help -
1. Battery sheilders
2. Using a hands-free to keep the handset as far away from the head.
3. Using alternatives when possible (eg Internet/messaging...)

I am trying to be on the safer side, hence, thought of sharing all this. If anyone shuns this piece of information as bogus - thats ok. I would rather try and save my neurons... :-)