Government must inform us of cell phone risk

On Cell Phone Radiation

Joel M. Moskowitz

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A huge, 30-year study called COSMOS has been launched in Europe to determine whether cell phones cause cancer and other health problems. Meanwhile, policymakers in Sacramento are considering legislation to ensure people know how much radiation their cell phones emit. The wireless industry vigorously opposes such legislation. It argues that its phones comply with regulations, and there is no consensus about risks so people don't need to know this. Our research review published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found alarming results to the contrary.

We reviewed 23 case-control studies that examined tumor risk due to cell phone use. Although as a whole the data varied, among the 10 higher quality studies, we found a harmful association between phone use and tumor risk. The lower quality studies, which failed to meet scientific best practices, were primarily industry funded.

The 13 studies that investigated cell phone use for 10 or more years found a significant harmful association with tumor risk, especially for brain tumors, giving us ample reason for concern about long-term use.

Do federal regulations adequately protect the public? The 1996 Federal Communications Commission regulations are based upon the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), a measure of heat generated by six minutes of cell phone exposure in an artificial model that represents a 200-pound man's brain. Although every cell phone model has a SAR, the industry doesn't make it easy to find it. Moreover, children, and adults who weigh less than 200 pounds, are exposed to more radiation than our government deems "safe."

It is time to revamp the FCC regulations. Laboratory scientists have found harmful effects from cell phones that emit less radiation than the FCC standard. Moreover, some scientists believe that cell phones' heat transfer is not what we should fear. These researchers have found that variation in the frequencies emitted by cell phones may be hazardous.

We should address this issue proactively even if we do not fully understand its magnitude. Our government has faced similar public health threats in the past. In 1965, although there was no scientific consensus about the harmful effects of cigarettes, Congress required a precautionary warning label on cigarette packages: "Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health." More specific warnings were not required until 1984: "Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy."

Should we have waited 19 years until absolutely certain before we informed the public about these risks?

Although more research on cell phone radiation is needed, we cannot afford to wait. There are 285 million cell phones in use in this country, and two-thirds of children over the age of seven use them. Manufacturers bury the SAR within their owner's manuals, along with safety instructions to keep your phone up to an inch away from your body.

Nine nations have issued precautionary warnings. It is time for our government to require health warnings and publicize simple steps to reduce the health risks of cell phone use.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Government-must-inform-us-of-cell-phone-risk-3190907.php#ixzz2SUBCEjO6

Hypersensitivity Diseases and Environmental Causes

MPs to hear arguments on microwave exposure levels

Experts concerned about health effects and industry witnesses who maintain WiFi, cellphones are safe set to appear Tuesday

Gloria Galloway

Ottawa — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Published on Monday, Apr. 26, 2010 7:46PM EDT

Last updated on Tuesday, Apr. 27, 2010 12:16AM EDT


Cellphone towers, cordless telephones and the wireless networks that link home computers send out microwaves that pose myriad human health risks, say witnesses who will tell federal politicians Tuesday that existing exposure limits are too high.

Magda Havas, a professor of environmental and resource studies at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., works with people she says are “electrically sensitive.”

“When they are exposed to this microwave energy from an ordinary cordless phone, their heart goes crazy,” said Dr. Havas, who will appear at a meeting of the Commons health committee. “They simply cannot survive in our normal urban environment any more. They either seclude themselves in their homes [where] they have special paint that they put on their walls and fabric for their windows to keep the radiation out,” or they move to rural areas.

Microwaves have also been linked to cancer, an inability to control diabetes, sleeping disorders and a range of neurological ailments. Dr. Havas and others who fear the effects of electromagnetic energy want the allowable exposure levels reduced, and they want the government to publicize the dangers they perceive in the communication devices that exist in most Canadian homes.

But for every study that says the waves are dangerous, there is another that says they are perfectly safe.

Health Canada, which sets the guidelines for microwave exposure, says that as long as the recommended limits are respected, the department has no scientific reason to consider exposure to low-level radiofrequency fields, such as those from cell towers, dangerous to the public.

Bernard Lord, the former New Brunswick premier who is now the president of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, will also appear before the Commons Health committee on Tuesday.

“The wireless industry fully complies with the regulations that are in place,” Mr. Lord said. “Not only do they fully comply, the members also believe that they are safe. We are all users of this technology. Not only do we use it on a day-to-day basis with our own wireless devices in our hands, but many of us have WiFi networks at home. And you have Internet cafés with WiFi waves. It’s all around you. It’s everywhere.”

François Therrien, a spokesman for Save Our Children From Microwaves who will also appear before the committee, said the members of his group understand that cellphones are here to stay.

“But we want to make them safer,” Mr. Therrien said. “We want warnings on cellphones and we want the cellphone companies to stop selling these products to children.”