Thursday, August 9, 2012

FCC Standards for Cellphone Radiation in Question




GAO criticizes FCC’s standards for cellphone radiation. Hayley Tsukayama. The Washington Post Aug 7, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/gao-criticizes-fccs-standards-for-cellphone-radiation/2012/08/07/08c1e91e-e0c9-11e1-8fc5-a7dcf1fc161d_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

[excerpted] "The Government Accountabil­ity Office on Tuesday called on federal regulators to revamp standards that measure the impact of radiation from cellphones.


The year-long review by the GAO, which was done at the urging of lawmakers, did not suggest that cellphone use causes cancer. But the GAO was critical of the way the Federal Communications Commission has managed its standards, noting that the rules, which had not changed since 1996, lagged behind those of the international community.

The FCC’s regulations “may not reflect the latest evidence on the the effects” of cellphones, the GAO’s report said.

read the entire article linked above

Another relevant link:

World Health Organization: Cellphones are possibly carcinogenic to humans. Posted at 01:49 PM ET, 05/31/2011 The Washington Post by Melissa Bell http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/world-health-organization-cellphones-are-carcinogenic-to-humans/2011/05/31/AG9q9aFH_blog.html
 
[Excerpted] "The International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, has classified cellphones as possibly carcinogenic to humans. It falls into a category with pesticide and gasoline engine exhaust.
 
Though there have been a number of studies on the link between cancer and cellphones, there has been controversy surrounding tests, with the cellphone industry contending no clear-cut connection and advocacy groups claiming cellphone providers funded some studies that showed no link. There are other problems with studying cellphone use...."
 
Majia here: Finally, watch this video of Dr. Devra Davis, the author of The Secret History of the War on Cancer (hat tip Craig)

Here is a brief description of the video:

Like many people, Dr. Davis just didn't believe the possibility of cell phones being dangerous?until she studied it. And now, with the toxicological and epidemiological evidence to back up her claims, she's trying to get the word out that cell phone radiation is not only dangerous, but can be downright lethal.
In her lecture, Dr. Davis explains how the biological impact of your cell phone is notrelated to its power, which is quite weak, but rather to the erratic nature of its signal and its ability to disrupt resonance and interfere with DNA repair. This is now believed to be the most plausible theory for understanding the wide array of health impacts discovered, which includes cancer...

Majia here: DNA damage by radiation is cumulative and can be passed on to one's children if germ line cells are impacted.

We are increasing the "background" radiation level by an unprecedented amount in a very short time period.

Consider for a moment the changes that have occurred in the post-World War II context.

First, we increased background radiation massively by atmospheric testing. This testing was halted only because geneticists became very vocal when expressing their concerns about the hereditary implications of fallout contamination.

Second, we've increased background radiation massively with all of our appliances and technologies, ranging from microwave ovens to cell phones.

Third, we are exposed to considerable radiation through medical imaging.

About 10 years ago I had a CT scan of my brain because of a severe migraine. Now I worry that the scan alone could cause a brain tumor or cause the tumors I have in my pituitary gland to grow dangerously at some point in the future.

Natural background radiation from sunlight and radon alone can cause cancer. Now we've increased the background load significantly and we've added radionuclides to our environment - such as plutonium - that would not otherwise be present.

Every generation inherits the DNA damage in their parents' germ line cells.

Each generation acquires yet more DNA damage from their lifetime exposures.

Across time, DNA damage bio-accumulates.

At some point, successful reproduction will be impossible.

For all we know we might already have introduced enough environmental hazards to ensure our extinction generations into the future.

However, since we will never know for sure when that point has been reached we must do everything we can in the present to reduce hazards.

Unfortunately, humans have a very hard time recognizing and responding to threats that are not empirically present in the here and now, particularly when they are linked to cultural icons, such as cell phones.


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