WASHINGTON-Wireless Technology Research Chairman George Carlo has informed federal
regulators that five cell-culture studies under his purview raise questions about possible bioeffects from radio-
frequency radiation emitted from mobile phones.
Carlo, according to sources, told federal regulators of the findings
at a Feb. 9 meeting at the Radisson Barcelo Hotel in Washington, D.C. The meeting included health and safety experts
from the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Communications
Commission and other agencies. Some government officials, not in attendance, participated through a telephone hook-
up.
Participants involved in the meeting were under strict orders not to divulge Carlo’s findings or discussions
among government scientists. The reason: It is not clear whether blips in WTR cell-culture studies represent positive
findings of a potential health effect from mobile phone RF or whether they can be written off as scientifically
insignificant anomalies.
Neither Carlo nor Dr. Elizabeth Jacobson, deputy director of FDA’s Center for Devices and
Radiological Health, could be reached for comment.
Carlo is said to have briefed the Cellular Telecommunications
Industry Association board of directors on his findings prior to the trade group’s annual meeting Feb. 8 in New
Orleans.
At that time, the board reportedly gave a commitment to seeing that WTR’s research is completed. And,
according to an industry source, Carlo told board members that, overall, the research-capping a five year, $25 million
research effort-does not rise to the level of a firm determination that mobile phones pose a health risk to the nation’s 68
million wireless phone users.
That Carlo appears to have produced fresh data from animal, cell-culture and
epidemiology studies-which will become public at a June conference in Long Beach, Calif.-could quell some of the
anger and frustration directed at him by carriers and manufacturers (which are underwriting WTR research) for not
having more to show for efforts thus far.
Cell-culture, or genotoxity in vitro studies, were overseen by Dr. Donald
McRee, of WTR, at Integrated Laboratory Systems in Research Triangle, N.C.
McRee said cell-culture experiments
are undergoing examination by the federal interagency working group and the Peer Review Board on Cellular
Telephones at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis.
“We’re still in that stage. To decide what to do we need
to get additional data in,” said McRee.
Sources with close knowledge of Carlo’s presentation to health and
safety regulators said WTR may decide to repeat the cell-culture studies at issue.
WTR’s animal and epidemiology
studies appear to have raised questions and controversy as well.
Dr. Henry Lai, the University of Washington
scientist and WTR researcher who previously found single- and double-strand DNA breaks in rats from mobile phone-
like RF exposure, accused Carlo on Canadian TV last month of wanting him to change his report on rat exposure
experiments to make it less damaging to the cellular industry.
Lai has been severely criticized by industry for his
previous work. Other research, sponsored by Motorola Inc., has not found a link between mobile phones and
cancer.
As for the epidemiology reports, a source knowledgeable with the findings recently suggested the data
might raise some eyebrows.
What Carlo’s research results mean for the future of WTR is unclear. Carlo strongly
believes that a post-market surveillance structure should be put in place to supplement any further biological RF
research. The industry has been reluctant to buy into the idea so far.
