At precisely what moment did Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association President Tom Wheeler realize he’d created a monster? Was it after the first lawsuit? The second? The third? Or did it finally hit home this past summer when Dr. George Carlo warned the world of possible health risks from mobile phones that some of his studies supposedly uncovered? Or more recently, when Wheeler learned of ABC’s 20/20 investigation?
Was it when Wheeler found out about `come clean’ letters Carlo recently sent to CTIA board members and new phone warnings at Subway sandwich shops and 7-Eleven stores? Oh, thank heaven! Buy a large 7-Eleven coffee and get 10 percent off Carlo’s new mobile phone safety guide.
Carlo, the man Wheeler hand picked to run the five-year, $27 million mobile phone-cancer research program, has become CTIA’s worst nightmare.
Poor Tom Wheeler can’t shake the researcher-turned-consumer advocate.
Wheeler, who believed he’d finally rid himself of Carlo in June, is rolling the dice this time around with the Food and Drug Administration. But already, the FDA-CTIA effort is showing the same clumsiness that characterized WTR.
Government scientists are angry at being shut out of an FDA meeting on post-WTR RF research that was postponed last week. Indeed, FDA-CTIA research may be doomed before it starts.
FDA’s Dr. Russell Owen recently was quoted in the Boston Globe, saying, “We do not believe cell phones can pose any health risks to humans.” Owen says he was misquoted.
The controversy brings back fond memories of Wheeler’s bold prediction at WTR’s inception that research would prove mobile phones safe. That did wonders for the-then nascent WTR project. Ask Elizabeth Jacobson, FDA’s top RF safety official.
CTIA, which blasted the FCC for its secret licensing pact with Nextel Communications Inc. and the Justice Department, itself refuses to release details on its cooperative research agreement with FDA. No surprise there. CTIA still hasn’t explained how WTR’s $27 million was spent.
Say what you will about Carlo; he raises important points in letters to telecom executives that neither CTIA nor the feds has addressed.
One is that there is no plan for monitoring health trends of the 70-plus million mobile phone users. Secondly, CTIA has not figured out how to fix an image problem it has in addressing health issues.
Meantime, RF health and safety answers can’t come fast enough. Dr. Zenon Sienkiewicz, of Britain’s National Radiological Protection Board, has suggested mobile phones may have a laxative effect. More business for Mr. Whipple.
