Radiation Fears Prompt Some Qwest Cell Phone Replacements.

Byline: Martin J. Moylan

Mar. 8--A cell phone used by 11,000 Qwest customers in 12 states might exceed federal radiation emission standards under certain conditions, prompting the manufacturer to offer replacements.

Kyocera, the manufacturer, expects to replace all the phones by today, said Audrey Mautner, spokeswoman for Qwest, which had 805,000 wireless subscribers at the end of 2000. The phone involved is model QCP-3035.

Kyocera said it decided to voluntarily replace the QCP-3035 phones when it discovered that in limited cases they might emit more microwave radiation than allowed by government guidelines. Qwest will also credit affected customers …