Urge Legislators to Set stronger standards for Cell Phones

[Guest guest]

Hi Health Activists,

 

For Contacting the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal

Communications Commission asking them to review the new studies raising concern

about cell phone exposure and the inadequacy of current standards see the

link below from the Environmental Working Group, which has compiled a great

deal of data on many of the cell phones available and how to avoid exposures

on their website

Today Senator Tom Harkin new chair of the Senate Health Education Labor and

Pensions Committee held a hearing on Cell phone hazzards.

_http://www.ewg.org/cellphone-radiation_

(http://www.ewg.org/cellphone-radiation)

They then provide a form letter to contact FDA and FCC to review the recent

data and set standards more protective thasn currently.

_http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1144/t/1874/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=

27776_

(http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1144/t/1874/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2777\

6)

 

Unfortunately, contacting non elected bureaucrats, urging them to take

action is not that effective. They do not have to listen to you. Whereas your

elected representatives may be more likely to apply stronger pressure to get

these regulators to take these warning more seriously and strengthen

regulations of cell phones.

I suggest you send the folowing to your Representative

You can find your representative at _www.house.gov_ (http://www.house.gov)

by putting in your zip code.

You can finf your senators at _www.senate.gov_ (http://www.senate.gov)

each state has 2 senators.

 

 

Dear Representative or Senator_______________:

I am requesting that you contact Commissioner Hamburg of the Food & Drug

Administration (FDA) and Chairman Genachowski of the Federal Comminications

Commission (FCC) and urge them to review the more recent data and emphasize

the precautionary principle in setting standards and regulations that

better protect users of cell phone technology.

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_

(http://tinyurl.com/lp3bhg) .

 

:: A study by University of California-Los Angeles and Danish researchers,

_http://tinyurl.com/kt4p78_ (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.

 

The FDA and FCC 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 FDA

and FCC 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,

 

 

arnold