BOSTON-The New England Journal of Medicine published an article last week that says wireless phones can disrupt heart pacemakers but do not pose health risks-findings that are not new.
Detecting interference between wireless phones and pacemakers has been established in a few different studies. Last fall, Wireless Technology Research L.L.C. declared there are no health problems associated with wireless phone-pacemaker interference. The statement followed a two-year $2 million study overseen by WTR and carried out by the Food and Drug Administration, The Center for the Study of Electromagnetic Compatibility at the University of Oklahoma, the Canadian Health Protection Branch, the New England Medical Center and the Mayo Clinic.
In a statement addressing the recent article, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association says, “This is not a new study, but rather the publication of results announced last September in Washington, D.C.”
Doctors have concluded problems can occur when the phone was next to the pulse generator. CTIA said, “as indicated in September … simple filters can be added to pacemakers to eliminate this interference.” The association noted that since the September report, it requires all wireless product literature to contain information about the possibility of interference, and that the FDA started a program of approving pacemakers that are free of interference from wireless phones.
