Study: Most Cell Users Exposed To Alarming Radiation Levels

Questions Of Long-Term Side Affects Raised

POSTED: 9:52 am EDT October 17, 2011
UPDATED: 6:38 pm EDT October 17, 2011

BOSTON -- A new report suggests that 97 percent of Americans are exposed to cell phone radiation levels well above the Federal Communications Commission limit.

The FCC underestimates the amount of radiation that people who carry cell phones are exposed to, according to the a study published in the journal Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine.

"The standard for cell phones has been developed based on old science and old models and old assumptions about how we use cell phones and that's why they need to change," said Devra Lee Davis of the Environmental Health Trust.

Because the existing process uses a mannequin model that represents 3 percent of the population, the authors report that 97 percent of the population, especially children, will exceed the certified level of absorbed radiation when they hold a cell phone up to their ear.

The authors suggest an alternative certification process -- one that uses MRI scans to test real humans.

The authors also raise questions of long-term side effects, like infertility in males who carry phones in their pockets, an exposure unaccounted for in the traditional certification process.

Independent scientists told ABC News there are no conclusive studies that cell phone radiation causes cancer.

"There are different types. The radiation from x-rays is ionizing radiation. The kind from cell phones is the same from microwave ovens. There is no good proof that that caused cancer," said ABC News Chief Health and Medical Editor Richard Besser.

The group is calling for a revision of the process, especially in children, who have smaller heads than the traditional male adult mannequin model.

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