[ RadSafe ] Bill would require health warnings on Maine cell phones

Mon Mar 1 16:54:11 CST 2010

I have heard that there is a group that claims that the wireing in houses emit radiation that is 'dangerous'. Also the radiation from high tension wires that emit radiation is 'dangerous'.  As Franz said,I believe, that life is dangerous.  I know of several persons (one related) died of brain tunors that were cancerous. This ws before cell phones??  One of these persons had a tumor that was not cancerous. 

Ed Baratta 

edmond0033 at comcast.net 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Franz Schönhofer" <franz.schoenhofer at chello.at> 
To: "Robert' 'Yoss" <ryoss at mcw.edu>, radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu 
Sent: Monday, March 1, 2010 5:18:08 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Bill would require health warnings on Maine cell phones 

I hope there will be a similar bill to require all cars to attach warnings 
that using a car either as a driver or a passenger is extremely dangerous 
and will quite often be deadly. You know better than me, how many people die 
there every year, every month or every day in car accidents. In theses cases 
the reason is without doubt clear and does not need ridiculous speculations 
like about "radiation". 

Extend this reasoning to other everyday situations ad libitum. 

Best regards, 

Franz 

Franz Schoenhofer, PhD 
MinRat i.R. 
Habicherg. 31/7 
A-1160 Wien/Vienna 
AUSTRIA 

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- 
Von: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu 
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] Im Auftrag von Yoss, Robert 
Gesendet: Montag, 01. März 2010 21:17 
An: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu 
Betreff: [ RadSafe ] Bill would require health warnings on Maine cell phones 

STATE HOUSE 

February 28 

Bill would require health warnings on Maine cell phones 

During lunch in late April 1995, Lloyd Morgan collapsed on the floor and had 
a 45-minute seizure. Doctors later found a tumor the size of a peach in his 
brain. They could not operate, he said, because his brain was so swollen 
that it might herniate. 

"The only place that your brain can go if the pressure builds up enough is 
down into the brain stem," Morgan said. "But that kills you." 

After eight days in critical condition, doctors successfully removed the 
tumor. Morgan's neurologist told him electromagnetic radiation may have 
caused it. Since then, he has become a champion for revealing the effects 
this radiation -- the sort that is emitted by cell phones -- on the brain. 

Tuesday, he will testify before the Legislature's Health and Human Services 
Committee when it hears L.D. 1706, which would make Maine the first state to 
put warnings on cell phones. They would say the electromagnetic radiation 
the phone emits could cause brain cancer and that users -- particularly kids 
and pregnant women -- should use caution. 

It is estimated that, of Maine's 1.3 million people, 950,000 use cell 
phones. 

"I'm not an anti-technology person," said Rep. Andrea Boland, D-Sanford, the 
bill's sponsor. "My concern is that we have enormously powerful industries 
that can scoot responsibilities because they do have so much power and they 
have products that we like so much." 

Boland, whose husband died of cancer, said she began to ask questions about 
the safety of cell phones after a professional conference two and a half 
years ago. Since then, she has found "serious, independent, scientific 
studies that show danger." 

The wireless industry's trade association, CTIA, says the government has 
regulated cell phones for safety. 

"Congress has given the (Federal Communications Commission) the 
responsibility for setting the safe levels of radio frequency exposure," 
said John Walls, CTIA's vice president of public affairs. "The FCC has 
relied on the scientific expertise of agencies such as the Food and Drug 
Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration." 

The relationship between these agencies on this issue, however, is unclear. 

The FCC, on its Web site, includes this statement: "Working closely with 
federal health and safety agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration 
(FDA), the FCC has adopted limits for safe exposure to radiofrequency (RF) 
energy." 

The FDA also has a statement on its Web site; it says the agency lacks the 
responsibility to review cell phone safety. 

"Under the law, FDA does not review the safety of radiation-emitting 
consumer products such as cell phones and similar wireless devices before 
they can be sold, as it does with new drugs or medical devices. However, FDA 
does have the authority to take action if cell phones are shown to emit 
radiofrequency energy (RF) at a level that is hazardous to the user." 

Supporters of L.D. 1706 said there is a difference between proving safety 
and not proving danger. 

"The industry used to say that they met all applicable safety standards," 
said George Carlo, a lawyer and pathologist who taught at George Washington 
Medical School for 20 years. "Well, that's true. There are none." 

Beginning in 1993, Carlo supervised a study sponsored by CTIA that came 
about, he said, after a Florida court case that attracted some national 
attention when David Reynard, who had sued several telecommunications 
companies, said on national television his wife died because of a brain 
tumor caused by a cell phone. 

Carlo said he was asked to design and run a study that would be 
peer-reviewed and involve 200 doctors from around the world. It lasted for 
six years and cost the industry $28.5 million. 

"We found genetic damage in human blood exposed to cell phone radiation," he 
said in an interview Friday. "We found an increased risk of tumors of the 
acoustic nerve. We found more than a doubling of the risk of neuroepithelial 
tumors." 

This class of tumor affects a type of cell in the brain, and is the same 
kind that killed David Reynard's wife, said Carlo, the co-author of "Cell 
Phones, Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age." 

"Finding genetic damage in human blood is enough to prevent any product from 
finding its way into commerce," he said. "I made the recommendation that a 
warning label be put on phones, to both the industry and the government, in 
1999." 

Walls said that the CTIA is confident cell phones are safe. 

"What we relied on is the expertise of renowned health agencies around the 
world who have reviewed numerous studies that have been conducted over an 
extended period of time, and based on their review, those organizations and 
agencies have concluded that there are no adverse health affects," he said. 

Carlo questioned that body of science, saying that industry paid for studies 
that supported its claims. 

"Those studies that are independent of industry funding are six times more 
likely to find a problem than those that are funded by industry," Carlo 
said. 

Morgan, the victim of a brain tumor who has become an advocate for cell 
phone caution, published a review of the research in the peer-reviewed 
journal Pathophysiology. 

Studies of the effects cell phone use for a few years are inconclusive, he 
said, but "industry studies and independent studies, when combined for more 
than 10 years of use, show a doubling of brain tumors." 

At this point, said Carlo, the government would not ban cell phones even if 
it was accepted that they were dangerous. 

"From a political point of view, when you have almost 200 million people 
using something, it isn't a good idea to take it away," he said. "The only 
public health step that can be taken is a warning to consumers." 

Ethan Wilensky-Lanford -- 620-7016 

ewlanford at mainetoday.com 
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