WASHINGTON-A congressional audit of federal agencies’ responsibilities and actions toward testing for mobile-phone health effects is likely to go forward even if the person who requested the audit is elected vice president of the United States.
Meanwhile, a new product to protect mobile-phone users from harmful radiation was launched last week coinciding with a nationwide TV debate on mobile-phone health issues.
The General Accounting Office is in the initial-or design-phase of an audit that will look into what responsibilities federal agencies have in the standards-setting process to ensure mobile-phone safety.
The study is expected to last until sometime next year and will most likely go forward even if Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) is elected vice president. Last week, Vice President Al Gore selected Lieberman as his running mate. Lieberman also is running for re-election in Connecticut.
GAO reports to Congress, so if Lieberman is elected vice president, it will either address its findings to another member of Congress or will issue the report on its own.
The fate of the audit ultimately will be determined after the presidential election by GAO management, but John Finedore, GAO assistant director, expects the audit will be completed.
“It is a very topical issue,” said Finedore.
The GAO study will examine the processes at the Federal Communications Commission and the Food and Drug Administration for studying mobile-phone health effects and whether the Environmental Protection Agency can be of any help on the issue. There will be an emphasis on the recently initiated cooperative research and development agreement between FDA and the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.
GAO representatives attended the initial meeting of the CRADA earlier this month, Finedore said.
Lieberman initially was concerned with the results of the $27 million research studies conducted by Wireless Technology Research L.L.C. and paid for by CTIA, but those results apparently will take a second burner to the work of the CRADA.
Meanwhile, California-based Communications 2000 said last week that it has received certification from both the American Society of Testing & Materials and Global Certification Laboratories Ltd. and the Kansai Electrical Corp. in Japan for its WaveShield product.
The WaveShield, which is marketed in two styles, is designed to protect the ear canal from possible radiation. The device is about the size of a penny and adheres to the ear piece of any cellular phone, the company said. It blocks up to 99 percent of the electromagnetic radiation that enters through the antenna, according to the company. The device costs about $20.
WaveShield is the latest of many such devices manufactured to protect the ear from radiation and was offered the week after a Baltimore neurosurgeon filed a lawsuit claiming his use of a cellular phone caused brain cancer. The lawsuit and other debate on the health effects of mobile phones was a featured topic on Aug. 9 on CNN’s Larry King Live show.
In the past, Motorola Inc. stopped a shield from Microshield Industries plc from being marketed in the United States, saying that Microshield made claims about its product and the safety of mobile phones that likely violated the Federal Trade Commission Act.
Late last week a Motorola spokesman said he had not seen the WaveShield product, but that “there was absolutely no health-related reasons for the public to resort to these products or devices.”
