The Power of Information

Tell the FCC and the FDA to modernize their cell phone radiation standards!

The science surrounding cell phone radiation is far from clear. In fact, In 2008 the National Research Council issued a report concluding that there are significant research needs for better understanding cell phone radiation, its effects on human health, and children's special sensitivity to its risks.

We hope you'll speak up, too. Ask the FDA and the FCC to modernize their cell phone radiation standards, give people the information they need, and challenge the cell phone industry to offer consumers phones that operate with the least possible radiation.

Subject: There are significant research needs related to cell phone radiation

Your Letter:

Dear Commissioner Hamburg and Chairman Genachowski,

In 2008 the National Research Council issued a report concluding that there are significant research needs for better understanding cell phone radiation, its effects on human health, and children's special sensitivity to its risks.

Since then, scientific research has further called into question the safety of cell phone use, particularly among children:

:: Three major studies published in 2008 and 2009 demonstrate higher rates of brain and salivary gland tumors among people who use cell phones frequently (Hardell 2008; Kundi 2009; Sadetzki 2008).

:: In two of these studies scientists combined data from all published brain tumor studies (25 as of 2009) to find an overall increased risk for brain tumors ranging from 50 percent (Kundi 2009) to 90 percent (Hardell 2009) for frequent cell phone users.

:: Scientists from both academia and the cell phone industry found that a child's brain absorbs at least twice as much cell phone radiation as that of an adult (Gandhi 1996; Wang 2003; Wiart 2008). Corroborating research from a prominent Swedish group found the highest incidence of brain tumors among people who first used cell phones before age 20, relative to all other age groups (Hardell 2009), http://tinyurl.com/lp3bhg.

:: A study by University of California-Los Angeles and Danish researchers, http://tinyurl.com/kt4p78, of 13,159 Danish children showed that young children who used cell phones and whose mothers also used cell phones during pregnancy were 80 percent more likely to suffer emotional and hyperactivity problems than children with lower cell phone exposures.

The issue of electromagnetic radiation from cell phones is complicated and unsettled.  It begs more intensive examination. Based on the implications of recent studies, the French government recommended banning cell phones in elementary schools. Government agencies in Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Switzerland and the United Kingdom along with the European Parliament, multiple national and international organizations and scientific expert groups have recommended reducing exposure to cell phone radiation, especially for young children.

In contrast, your agencies, which bear the responsibility of regulating cell phones, have neither issued consumer warnings nor developed independent health and safety standards for long-term cell phone use, especially by young children.

The cell phone industry developed the radiation standards the FCC adopted 17 years ago. These standards remain unchanged during a period of rapid advancement in electronic communications sciences. It is now clear that these standards do not protect public health. They allow 20 times more radiation to reach the brain than the rest of the body, and they do not address the particular vulnerability of children, whose thinner, softer skulls admit more cell phone radiation to their brains.

Data compiled by the Environmental Working Group show that some cell phones emit up to eight times more electromagnetic radiation than others. Yet your agencies do little to help consumers gain access to this crucial information. The FCC does not require cell phone manufacturers to disclose SAR values (specific absorption rate, the technical term for cell phone radiation exposures) . Such disclosure as exists is voluntary, difficult for consumers to access, and almost never available at the point of sale.

I urge you to require that cell phone vendors disclose their radiation emissions at point of sale. People have a right to know this information so that they can make informed choices for themselves, their families, and especially their children.

It is past time for the FCC and the FDA to take a fresh look at the scientific data on cell phone radiation, revise federal standards to ensure that they adequately protect the most vulnerable populations, and recommend limitations on cell phone use by children. 
 
This Administration is embroiled in repairing damage from financial regulations that were gutted for the convenience of favored industries. In the case of cell phone radiation, there have yet to be any meaningful regulations. So far, there have only been minimal standards that serve industry while ignoring consumers’ rights.

It is time to balance this situation. We hope you will see to it that your agencies modernize their cell phone radiation standards, give people the information they need, and challenge the cell phone industry to offer consumers phones that operate with the least possible radiation.

Sincerely,

Colleen Hutchings

EWG Staff

Fax:(202) 939-9149

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Tell the FCC and the FDA to modernize their cell phone radiation standards!

Colleen Hutchings