Thursday, July 07, 2016

Breaking News: Wall Street Journal Rekindles Cellphone-Health Risk Debate

Breaking News: Wall Street Journal Rekindles Cellphone-Health Risk Debate


Joel's comments: According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the newly-released study on cellphone radiation and cancer in rats conducted by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) resulted in more than 1,000 news stories. Nearly 150 reporters participated in the telephone press conference held by the NTP on May 27.

Unfortunately, much of the media coverage contained considerable bias, or "spin" intended to create doubt about the study's important findings regarding cancer risk from exposure to cellphone radiation. Notable exceptions included news stories that appeared in the Wall Street Journal and Mother Jones.
Perhaps, Ryan Knutson's followup story in the Wall Street Journal (see below) will capture the attention of the FDA. Since 2011 when the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared radiofrequency radiation "possibly carcinogenic to humans," hundreds of peer-reviewed studies have been published that find harm from wireless radiation exposure.  The FCC needs to stop selling off more spectrum to the wireless industry. and slow down the roll out of 5G technology until the FDA can ensure the public that wireless technologies are safe.

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Debate Rekindled Over Health Risks From Cellphone Use


Study results support push for tougher standards to protect humans from potential health effects
Ryan Knutson, Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2016

Selected quotes:
"'It’s a paradigm shift in my mind because this is the first study where tremendous care was taken to use nonionizing radiation, and not heat up tissue, and then find that nonionizing radiation caused tumors,' said Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society."

"David Andrews, a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, which has pushed for tougher safety regulations, said what the recent NTP study 'indicates is that there are the potential for more subtle, but potentially much more damaging health effects.'”

"The FCC opened a proceeding to study the current standards in 2013, but hasn’t taken any action. The agency officially adopted cellphone RF safety limits in 1996."

"Dr. Gandhi, who was on the IEEE committee and voted against the test method in 2003, says phones should be tested with far less separation from the body and without the 6 mm ear. He has also pushed for a test for children."

"Jay Moulton, who runs a cellphone test lab in California, said most phones wouldn’t pass the body test without some separation. 'If they had to go to zero, every phone would fail and you’d never get them out on the market.'”

"Dr. Boice [head of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, a congressionally chartered organization in charge of monitoring radiation safety] ... says it is a good idea to revisit the safety standards. 'Not because there’s overwhelming scientific knowledge to do so, but because there’s continued scientific uncertainty—and because everybody has one.'”

http://on.wsj.com/29ooikt

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Joel M. Moskowitz, Ph.D., Director
Center for Family and Community Health
School of Public Health
University of California, Berkeley

Electromagnetic Radiation Safety
Website:               http://www.saferemr.com
Facebook:             http://www.facebook.com/SaferEMR
News Releases:     http://pressroom.prlog.org/jmm716/
Twitter:                  @berkeleyprc

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