Editor:
Wireless Technology Research L.L.C. appreciates your continued interest in and support of our research program as expressed in the articles authored by Jeff Silva in RCR’s Oct. 7 issue. We firmly believe that critical and fair review of this program is essential to its success, and to the success of future programs that follow the public health paradigm embraced by WTR. To that end, we need to clarify the WTR’s position regarding the conduct of 90-day and two-year animal studies.
Put simply, the issue is not “short-term (90-day) rather than lifetime (two-year) rat radiofrequency radiation exposure studies,” but the order in which these studies should be conducted to gain maximum scientific benefit and insight.
The WTR is committed to the completion of a thorough and comprehensive series of 90-day studies, using appropriate dosimetry and exposure systems, before initiating or recommending parameters for any long-term studies. This stepwise approach is based on recommended and widely accepted scientific procedures for assessing possible target organ effects and is the approach typically required by regulatory agencies. The WTR position is that an informed decision on the conduct of long-term studies must await completion of the short-term studies, including in vitro and in vivo genetic toxicity studies, which thoroughly evaluate the various types of exposures from existing and anticipated wireless communication technologies. An arbitrary, premature decision on long-term studies would not serve the public interest.
In our 1994 Research Agenda, we put forth a responsible and highly rigorous scientific plan that includes a thorough safety assessment of radiofrequency radiation associated with wireless communication technologies and that is now well into the implementation phase. Mr. Silva correctly points out that “five years and $25 million are arbitrary numbers.” The industry commitment of $25 million pre-dated the WTR and the WTR Research Agenda. Five years was a self-imposed time limitation by the WTR, adopted to keep the program focused and practical. Our goal has always been to implement the scientific Research Agenda.
We have not committed, nor can we commit to complete the full Research Agenda within the current financial or five-year time frame. Indeed, the task of completing the science embodied within the WTR Research Agenda may well fall to others when our commitment of five years is fulfilled or when the industry’s financial commitment of $25 million is exhausted.
The WTR will not allow the non-scientific constraints of funding and time to affect the rigor of our science, nor impact our scientific decision making. Specifically, these artificial constraints will not alter our decision to sequence short-term and long-term studies. As we have stated and shown by our actions many times before, the WTR will not cut corners nor allow outside pressures from any source to compromise the integrity of our program.
George L. Carlo,
Ph.D., M.S., J.D.
WTR Chairman
Ian C. Munro,
Ph.D., F.R.C.P
WTR Toxicology
