[ RadSafe ] Maine --- cancer and cell phones

[Steven Dapra]

Dec. 22

	This article has been on Yahoo news for a day or 
two.  Does anyone here know anything about 
Herberman, Morgan, or the Biolnitiative Working Group?

Steven Dapra

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Maine to consider cell phone cancer warning

By GLENN ADAMS, Associated Press Writer Dec 21, 2009.

AUGUSTA, Maine – A Maine legislator wants to make 
the state the first to require cell phones to 
carry warnings that they can cause brain cancer, 
although there is no consensus among scientists 
that they do and industry leaders dispute the claim.
The now-ubiquitous devices carry such warnings in 
some countries, though no U.S. states require 
them, according to the National Conference of 
State Legislators. A similar effort is afoot in 
San Francisco, where Mayor Gavin Newsom wants his 
city to be the nation's first to require the warnings.
Maine Rep. Andrea Boland, D-Sanford, said 
numerous studies point to the cancer risk, and 
she has persuaded legislative leaders to allow 
her proposal to come up for discussion during the 
2010 session that begins in January, a session 
usually reserved for emergency and governors' bills.
Boland herself uses a cell phone, but with a 
speaker to keep the phone away from her head. She 
also leaves the phone off unless she's expecting 
a call. At issue is radiation emitted by all cell phones.
Under Boland's bill, manufacturers would have to 
put labels on phones and packaging warning of the 
potential for brain cancer associated with 
electromagnetic radiation. The warnings would 
recommend that users, especially children and 
pregnant women, keep the devices away from their head and body.
The Federal Communications Commission, which 
maintains that all cell phones sold in the U.S. 
are safe, has set a standard for the "specific 
absorption rate" of radiofrequency energy, but it 
doesn't require handset makers to divulge radiation levels.
The San Francisco proposal would require the 
display of the absorption rate level next to each 
phone in print at least as big as the price. 
Boland's bill is not specific about absorption 
rate levels, but would require a permanent, 
nonremovable advisory of risk in black type, 
except for the word "warning," which would be 
large and in red letters. It would also include a 
color graphic of a child's brain next to the warning.
While there's little agreement about the health 
hazards, Boland said Maine's roughly 950,000 cell 
phone users among its 1.3 million residents "do not know what the risks are."
All told, more than 270 million people subscribed 
to cellular telephone service last year in the 
United States, an increase from 110 million in 
2000, according to CTIA-The Wireless Association. 
The industry group contends the devices are safe.
"With respect to the matter of health effects 
associated with wireless base stations and the 
use of wireless devices, CTIA and the wireless 
industry have always been guided by science, and 
the views of impartial health organizations. The 
peer-reviewed scientific evidence has 
overwhelmingly indicated that wireless devices do 
not pose a public health risk," said CTIA's John Walls.
James Keller of Lewiston, whose cell phone serves 
as his only phone, seemed skeptical about warning 
labels. He said many things may cause cancer but 
lack scientific evidence to support that belief. 
Besides, he said, people can't live without cell phones.
"It seems a little silly to me, but it's not 
going to hurt anyone to have a warning on there. 
If they're really concerned about it, go ahead 
and put a warning on it," he said outside a 
sporting good store in Topsham. "It wouldn't deter me from buying a phone."
While there's been no long-term studies on cell 
phones and cancer, some scientists suggest erring on the side of caution.
Last year, Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director 
emeritus of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer 
Institute, sent a memo to about 3,000 faculty and 
staff members warning of risks based on early, 
unpublished data. He said that children should 
use the phones only for emergencies because their 
brains were still developing and that adults 
should keep the phone away from the head and use 
a speakerphone or a wireless headset.
Herberman, who says scientific conclusions often 
take too long, is one of numerous doctors and 
researchers who have endorsed an August report by 
retired electronics engineer L. Lloyd Morgan. The 
report highlights a study that found 
significantly increased risk of brain tumors from 
10 or more years of cell phone or cordless phone use.
Also, the BioInitiative Working Group, an 
international group of scientists, notes that 
many countries have issued warnings and that the 
European Parliament has passed a resolution 
calling for governmental action to address 
concerns over health risks from mobile phone use.
But the National Cancer Institute said studies 
thus far have turned up mixed and inconsistent 
results, noting that cell phones did not come 
into widespread use in the United States until the 1990s.
"Although research has not consistently 
demonstrated a link between cellular telephone 
use and cancer, scientists still caution that 
further surveillance is needed before conclusions 
can be drawn," according to the Cancer Institute's Web site.
Motorola Inc., one of the nation's major wireless 
phone makers, says on its Web site that all of 
its products comply with international safety 
guidelines for radiofrequency energy exposure.
A Motorola official referred questions to CTIA.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091221/ap_on_he_me/us_cell_phone_warnings