WASHINGTON-Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), ranking minority member of the Governmental Affairs Committee, called for a congressional investigation into whether mobile phones pose a health risk to the nation’s 80 million subscribers.
“In the last five years, the numbers of Americans using cellular telephones has increased dramatically. Also in the last five years, additional research projects into the health effects of cellular telephones have been completed, while other, more comprehensive programs are still under way. Although none of the studies has clearly established that cellular telephones can cause adverse health effects, uncertainty in this area persists, fueling the fears of phone users and spurring calls for further research,” said Lieberman in an Oct. 20 letter to GAO Comptroller David Walker.
Specifically, Lieberman asked GAO to perform the following in its investigation of mobile phones:
Review the existing scientific data to assess the health risks of cellular telephones.
Review whether there is enough evidence to justify regulatory actions by the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency or the Federal Communications Commission.
Review the extent to which the FDA, the EPA or the FCC worked with the cellular telephone industry’s Scientific Advisory Group on Cellular Telephone Safety to maximize the usefulness, independence and objectivity of the group’s recently completed five-year research initiative. (SAG was the forerunner to Wireless Technology Research L.L.C., the entity that conducted a five-year, $27 million cancer study for the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.)
Review the structure, methodology and findings of the industry’s research program.
Assess additional actions that could be taken by the federal government or the industry to study possible adverse health effects and to consider additional precautionary safety measures.
GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, concluded in a 1994 report there was insufficient scientific data to determine whether wireless phones can cause health problems.
Lieberman’s request for a GAO probe came on the same day of the ABC “20/20” broadcast in which Dr. George Carlo, chairman of WTR, claimed some WTR studies suggest a possible link between mobile phones and cancer.
“20/20” also revealed that some mobile phones tested by a German laboratory exceeded U.S. radio-frequency radiation emission limits.
FDA, which has jurisdiction over consumer products that emit radiation, says there is insufficient data to determine whether mobile phones can have adverse health effects.
But when presented with Carlo’s research results earlier this year, FDA said the data appeared to rule out a public health problem.
Carlo is not entirely alone in his views. Other experiments here and abroad have detected DNA breaks-a precursor of cancer and other diseases-from mobile-phone radiation. Some of that research has yet to be duplicated and peer reviewed.
Carlo has accused CTIA and FDA, which have agreed to work together on post-WTR research, of not being aggressive enough in addressing mobile-phone health questions.
“If there is a GAO report, I’ll do everything to cooperate. I certainly have a lot to say,” said Carlo.
CTIA, for its part, suggested the GAO study was unnecessary.
“Sen. Lieberman is taking a very measured and methodical approach, which is certain to surface the fact that a vast body of science has not found a link between health effects and wireless phones,” stated CTIA. “The commitment by this industry to continue research in collaboration with the FDA is a very open and responsible decision. Given that much of this information is already available to the public, the GAO inquiry might not be necessary.”
On a related front, an industry technical committee determined the significance of the ear is not so important in setting a standard for measuring mobile-phone radiation absorbed by the head and complying with FCC RF radiation exposure guideline. The significance of the ear in measuring how much radition is absorbed by the head has been the subject of hot debate in recent months.
Currently, the FCC does not test mobile phones for SAR compliance. Instead, it relies on paper documents submitted by manufacturers. That and the fact there are different SAR measurement systems have sparked controversy regarding FCC oversight of SAR compliance.
The FCC on Sept. 30 awarded a $99,000 contract to Schmid & Partners Engineering AG in Zurich, Switzerland, to provide the agency with an SAR measurement system.
Dr. Niels Kuster, a world-known dosimetry expert, closely advises Schmid & Partners. Top mobile phone manufacturers use the Kuster system, or variations of it, for SAR testing.
to make the SAR contract to Schmid & Partners possible, FCC Chairman William Kennard waived requirements of the 1979 “Buy American Act.” The law steers federal government purchases toward U.S. firms.
“We wanted to ge the best possible system we could at this time,” said Randi Bettencourt, an FCC contract specialist.
