I stumbled upon the Q/A article at the link below about the dangers of cell phones. I remember a time when there were discussions on the links to brain cancer and cell phones. The cell phone industry tried their best to suppress this information and debunk the studies. I think they have been successful in their efforts because you barely hear information on the dangers of cell phones anymore. Well I should say I don’t. Do you think they are dangerous?
Examining the dangers of cellphones – Health conference speaker suggests ways to protect yourself.
Q: In the book you mention various officials who basically had no clue about the technology they were charged with regulating. Should the government appoint folks who actually know the science?
A: I think there’s a lesson here from the BP oil spill which is relevant to this issue. In the case of the BP oil spill, the government relied on industry to set standards, and we saw the consequences [of that action]. In the case of cellphones that’s what they’ve done as well. We need to train people to become experts in this field. The government is not the problem; it’s the lack of an infrastructure to train people to be experts.
Q: Tell us a
bit about the
Environ-
mental
Health
Trust,
which you founded?
A: It’s a nonprofit that’s supported by donations from around the world. We founded the first conference on cellphones and health last September in Washington, D.C., which led to the Senate hearings on the subject. We have a campaign for safer phones, and we are going to schools and getting with parents and teachers to promote safer cellphone use.
I’m not that concerned with older people, frankly, or whether there are issues with some of them; what I am concerned about is the young who are being exposed to radio frequency radiation which wasn’t in existence even 12 years ago. We need to be smarter about what we do with these devices. The cellphone standards that were set in 1979 were for a six-foot man, who weighed over 200 pounds and spoke on the phone for six minutes. That standard is still being used. And now there are billions of people who aren’t that big and who talk on the phone for hours a day.
John Hood is a columnist and
correspondent in
Miami.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/10/1863778_p2/examining-the-dangers-of-cellphones.html#ixzz120umtwKM
