WASHINGTON-Baltimore superlawyer Peter Angelos is teaming with George Carlo, who headed the industry-funded mobile phone cancer research program before breaking with the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association last year, to create a new radiation-protection project that will include follow-up studies and establish a comprehensive surveillance system to help identify any health problems among the 84 million wireless subscribers in the United States.
“We’re putting in place a program to follow up the work of the WTR [Wireless Technology Research L.L.C.],” said Carlo.
The industry insists most research proves mobile phones are safe, but others point to studies that show DNA and genetic damage from mobile phone-like radio-frequency radiation.
The radiation protection project is under final review by Angelos, who has litigated successfully against asbestos and tobacco companies and is currently pursuing lawsuits involving alleged personal injuries from lead paint manufacturers and from a tape-erasing machine that produces a strong electromagnetic field.
Carlo said Angelos, a multimillionaire, offered to fund the radiation protection project directly. Carlo said he declined, saying such an arrangement might taint subsequent research. Instead, Carlo said the two men agreed to raise an initial $6 million through outside fundraising. Carlo recently wrapped up a six-year, $28 million research program for CTIA. Most results came up negative, but some findings suggest a possible link between popular phones and illnesses.
Carlo hinted that he and Angelos might enlist the support of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who is pushing legislation that would earmark $10 million for mobile phone research and give local regulators authority to weigh health effects in considering applications to build mobile phone towers.
Scientific data collected from Carlo’s follow-up research could become the foundation for class-action lawsuits in the future.
“It [the radiation protection project] is still in a formative stage,” said Angelos. But he added, “Obviously if the program indicates there is a connection-a cause and effect between phones and injuries-then obviously we would go forward [with litigation].”
Carlo’s program includes a passive surveillance system, which would entail advertising, a Web site and a toll-free telephone number to collect information from mobile phone users who suspect health problems from their phones.
In addition, an active surveillance system will be put in place that looks at the mortality rate of analog and digital mobile phone users from 1995 through 1999. The program also may include screening of individuals identified through either the passive or active surveillance system for specific clinical conditions so that expeditious treatment can be given.
Carlo has targeted additional mobile phone research needs he claims are not being addressed by the World Health Organization, the European Commission and other programs funded by the wireless industry.
As a start, Carlo plans to conduct the following studies:
Case-control study of adult-onset leukemia. Carlo said a peer-reviewed protocol for this study has been developed under the WTR and investigators have been identified at Boston University.
Clinical study of wireless phone interference among implanted cardiac defibrillator patients. Carlo said a peer-review protocol for this study was developed under WTR and investigators at the Mayo Clinic are prepared to proceed.
Cohort study of brain function impairment and other health outcomes. Carlo said a protocol for a community cohort study was developed under WTR and could be adapted to this study.
Studies of the impact of radio-frequency radiation on children. Carlo said next to no research has been conducted in this area, despite the growing popularity of mobile phones among non-adults.
Studies on the impact of RF radiation on pregnant women, developing embryos and fetuses.
Jo-Anne Basile, vice president for external and industry relations at CTIA, disputed Carlo’s contention that CTIA blocked him from (1) setting up a post-market surveillance system; (2) conducting leukemia studies and (3) studying potential interference from mobile phones to cardiac defibrillators.
“I’m not sure the post-market surveillance mode sets well for wireless,” said Basile. She said CTIA asked Carlo for a post-market surveillance proposal, but he did not provide one.
“To say there’s an absence of data on this is not totally correct,” said Basile. She said epidemiology studies are, in fact, in process overseas.
Basile said she could not recall Carlo asking CTIA to investigate any link between mobile phones and adult leukemia. She added Carlo’s main task was to conduct biological result, not the kind of interterference research conducted by the University of Oklahoma.
The decision by Angelos and Carlo to go forward with additional mobile phone health research comes on the heels of a new federal appeals court ruling that affirmed Federal Communications Commission RF safety exposure guidelines. In addtion, a new published study-funded by Motorola Inc.-failed to find an increased rate of brain cancer or other diseases among nearly 200,000 Motorola workers from 1976 to 1996.
Basile is working with the Food and Drug Administration to finalize a cooperative research pact in which CTIA will fund research to repeat two Carlo studies that had positive findings.
On a parallel track, FDA has made new recommendations for mobile phone health studies. Mobile phone research being requested by FDA is broader than that agreed upon by FDA and CTIA.
“Animal experiments are crucial because meaningful data will not be available from epidemiological studies for many years due to the long latency period between exposure to a carcinogen and the diagnosis of a tumor,” stated FDA in a recommendation to the National Toxicology Program published in the Federal Register on Feb. 17.
The NTP is a unit of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, itself a part of the National Institutes for Health.
The FDA, in some of the strongest language to date on the topic, said FCC radio-frequency radiation guidelines “are based on protection from acute injury from thermal effects of RFR exposure, and may not be protective against any non-thermal effects of chronic exposures.”
FDA went on to say, “[T]here is currently insufficient scientific basis for concluding either that wireless communication technologies are safe or that they pose a risk to millions of users.”
The 84 million mobile phone subscribers and the 25,000 that sign up daily, noted FDA, “translates into a potentially significant health problem should the use of these device even slightly increase the risk of adverse health effects.”
Most of the 29 studies cited by FDA were conducted prior to 1993, when the CTIA erected WTR.
At least one top wireless player appears to breaking with industry and taking a proactive approach to mobile phone health questions. Metrocall Inc., a leading paging carrier and formidable mobile phone reseller for AT&T Corp. and Sprint PCS, has instructed sales personnel to recommend to customers to use portable hands-free headsets and vehicle adapters to minimize any health risk and to promote safer driving.
“We also recommend that parents who are buying for a child or young adult consider a wireless messaging unit vs. a wireless phone due to potential health risks as described by the national media and industry research,” stated Metrocall in a Jan. 3 health and safety bulletin.
Metrocall, based in Alexandria, Va., is 30-percent owned by AT&T Corp., the nation’s largest mobile phone operator.
