JERUSALEM, Israel-Afraid of scaring Israeli consumers, wireless carriers operating in this nation of 2 million cellular phone users are awaiting the arrival of a third player, Partner Communications Co. Ltd., before tackling head-on the thorny issue of possible health risks associated with prolonged cell phone use.
That is the conclusion of Jerusalem Post reporter Judy Siegel, the journalist who earlier this year prompted national debate on the possible link between cancer and prolonged exposure to the electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell phones. Siegel mobilized Israel’s health and communications ministries to explore the risks after coming across an Australian study that suggested a link between cell phones and cancer.
Siegel found the need to study the health effects of cell phone use particularly urgent because of heavy cell phone usage in Israel. The country boasts an estimated 32-percent cell phone penetration rate, and Israelis use their cell phones more frequently than in many other countries-averaging some 450 minutes of use per month.
But efforts to move forward with research are going very slowly, Siegel said.
Israel’s two operators, Cellcom Israel Ltd. and Pele-Phone Communications Ltd., are hesitant to take steps that could shed more light on the issue for fear of alarming the public, Siegel said. Such steps include promoting the use of ear phones that keep headsets relatively distant during conversations. The operators sell the ear pieces, but do not promote them, Siegel said.
The carriers also were to participate in research funding, a recommendation made in March by the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. But nothing has come of that initiative, said Yair Amikam, a Health Ministry spokesman.
Siegel said Cellcom and Pele-Phone want Partner, which launches on 7 October-on the nation’s first GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) network-to share the responsibility for health research.
For now, Partner and the other carriers are confident that local and international standards provide effective protection against health risks that may be associated with cell phone use.
“At the end of the day we’ll follow existing standards,” said Nigel Salomon, a member of Partner parent Hutchison Telecommunications’ sales and marketing group.
Ayelet Gradman, a Pele-Phone spokeswoman, said her company is safety-conscious as evidenced by the clean bill of health Pele-Phone receives in Communications Ministry reports on radiation emitted from its cell sites. Radiation levels are 20 times lower than the permissible amounts, Gradman asserted.
In addition, Pele-Phone’s managing director, Yigal Bar Yosef, sent a 24 May letter to the Communications Ministry expressing the company’s willingness to participate in health research, Gradman added, but declined to provide a copy of the letter.
Shalom Manova, Cellcom’s chief operating officer and deputy chief executive officer, downplayed the possibility of ill effects of electromagnetic emissions from cell phones, saying two decades of experience with similar emissions in the army have not been harmful.
Israel is involved in an eight-country study announced in January under the auspices of the World Health Organization. The Canadian epidemiologist leading the effort, Dr. Elizabeth Cardis, said the study is not complete.
