Subject:  California legislature debates cell phone safety (Kelley)..
Date:     Mon, 10 Apr 2000 231238 -0500 (CDT)
From:     "Roy L. Beavers" 
To:       emfguru 
--------------------------------------------------


........Our 'always on the job' California sleuth has found another
good news story about some important activities in America's
"bellweather" state....

Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
roy@emfguru.com

.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
                    NEW!!! Website... http://emfguru.com
...................People are more important than profits.................
                         
             DO YOU KNOW OF OTHERS WHO SHOULD BE ON THIS LIST???

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 20:42:37 -0700
From: Libby Kelley 
To: advisors@ccwti.org
Subject: Wireless Week article -- California legislature debates cell
pjhone safety

 From the April 10, 2000 issue of Wireless Week

                              California Debates Safety, Use

By Peggy Albright

SAN FRANCISCO - Just as it's at the forefront of so many other
trends, California finds itself in the thick of brewing legal
questions about wireless health and safety.

At opposite ends of the state last week, lawmakers took their latest
steps in addressing the increasingly public debates over the
potential effects of radio-frequency exposure from cellular phone
use and whether to limit use while driving.

The California debates have spread beyond wireless industry groups
and lawmakers to citizens groups and non-profit organizations that
also want a voice in answering how and whether the state 
and local governments should put their legal and regulatory clamps
into wireless. As California often serves as a political bellweather
for the rest of the country, some expect that broadened debate to
spread to other states.

For now, the answer is "No." Two high-profile wireless restrictions
mulled last week by Golden State politicians failed to muster
the necessary support in their original forms, although each
remains in play.

In Sacramento, the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee 
rejected language in a bill by Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles, that
would force retailers not only to warn customers about cellular phone
potential health risks but also to offer hands-free equipment.

"The industry would have you believe there is nothing to fear by
putting a cell phone to your head," Hayden says, noting the bill
is based partly on studies by the now-defunct Wireless
Telecommunications Research group funded by CTIA. Michael Pipe, a
consultant to the senator, says lawmakers will rewrite the bill to
require the state Department of Health Services to review existing
wireless health effects research and determine if such consumer 
health protection measures should be taken.

"I think the outcome was a good one," says Stephen Carlson, 
executive director of the Cellular Carriers Association of
California, which opposed the bill. "The industry indicated its 
commitment to continuing research and continuing to look at
everything possible to make sure the service was safe and the
customers knew it was safe."

Supporting Hayden's bill were two private organizations: the Council
on Wireless Technology Impacts, an advocacy group concerned about RF
emissions, and the National Brain Tumor Foundation. "We think this
bill makes a lot of sense," said Janis Brewer, executive director of
the NBTF. "It's just a precautionary measure."

The day before, in Santa Monica, city council members had killed a
proposal to ban talking on cellular phones while driving in the city. 
The council defeated the proposal–which drew lobbying opposition 
from several wireless carriers - based on enforcement difficulties
and insufficient data linking phone use and accidents.

But the panel directed its staff to take the matter to the
California League of Cities and state and national agencies for
further research.

At least for now, the trendy thing in California may be scrutinizing
the wireless industry.


Libby Kelley
Executive Director
Council on Wireless Technology Impacts
aka ~ Ad Hoc Association of Parties Concerned about
     the FCC's Radiofrequency Radiation Health and Safety Rules
____________________________
Website:  http://www.ccwti.org
Phone - 415-892-1863
Fax -     415-892-3108
Address:
936-B Seventh Street, # 206
Novato, California 94945



Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com