Subject: Cell phones & Brain cancer & studies (Jonsson)..
Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 203133 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers"
To: emfguru
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........I WANT to believe that this (below) is not just another
money-making scheme ... by a man who has a better record as a
"raiser" and "spender" of $$$$$$$$ than as a researcher......
I also WANT to believe that this will be a totally independent effort --
independent of the vested interests (government AND industry).....
I note that it makes no such claim...... It claims only to exclude the
"plaintiff-type" lawyers...... They are the ones who industry depicts
as the big "bogey-man" - the litigants who sue the poor defenseless BIG
corporations for 30 or 40 percent of the "take" $$$$$$......
You saw the "torts lawyers" in action in the Bronkowski film.....
Industry has learned that if it (industry) screams loud enough about such
"torts" lawyers, it can deflect the public attention away from
itself and turn the public anger against the "torts law or lawyers"......
Nevertheless, some are saying: but we must have more research. This
(below) is research.... So (they say) it's better than nothing.....
NO - it is not!!! Not if it is not independent......
In this EMF saga -- It has become a matter of obvious and paramount
importance to me ... that not ALL research is desirable......!!!
Simply because it is "research".....
Guru says: It DOES matter ... when the research is not INDEPENDENT......
It can do (and has done!!) much harm.....
You know them: those (researchers) who clearly are prepared to serve
their patron more than the truth -- the "usual suspects."
They can introduce much more harm than good..... In that kind of
"research" - I submit - lies the explanation for much of the obfuscation
and dis-ingenuous "fog" that now enshrouds this EMF subject....
Research of the type that aims to 'reward' or 'reassure' its sponsor --
(the type of research that has characterized TOO MUCH of what what we
have seen in the EMF saga) -- THAT IS WORSE THAN NO RESEARCH AT
ALL......!!!!
But -- as I said -- I WANT to believe .......
Cheerio......
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.................
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 18:43:45 -0400
From: azul@flash.net
To: Virginia Hines
Cc: "Roy L. Beavers"
Subject: Cell phones & Brain cancer & studies
Scientists Launch New Cell Phone Health Studies
May 3, 2000
WASHINGTON (Hearst News Service) - Scientists are launching a new series
of studies to determine whether radiation from cell phones sparks
maladies such as leukemia, cancer, birth defects, reproductive ailments
in women and diseases in children.
The studies include a surveillance program that will search for clusters
of cell phone users suffering particular illnesses. The goal of the
program is to determine whether the devices were the cause or a
contributing factor to the illnesses.
The group also will study whether the federal government's existing
guidelines for cell phone radiation exposure are stringent enough to
protect users.
Dr. George Carlo, a lawyer and epidemiologist who directs the
Washington-based Health Risk Management Group, will manage the new
effort. Private individuals and cell phone companies have supplied seed
money, Carlo said. He estimated it could take a year or more to raise
the $60 million he says is needed to conduct the studies.
Carlo declined to name the backers but stressed that his organization is
not accepting money from plaintiffs lawyers, who could profit if a
conclusive link is demonstrated between cell phones and disease.
Carlo previously headed a five-year, $27 million project funded by the
Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, the industry's trade
association, that found possible health problems associated with
cellular phones use.
Carlo said the new studies - expected to last four years - would be
farmed out to research and academic institutions around the country.
The surveillance aspect of the research is unique among studies that
assess cell phone health risks, according to Carlo.
"Right now, nobody in the world is looking for specific health problems"
possibly associated with specific brands of cell phones, Carlo said. For
the surveillance study, the idea is to get as many cell phone users as
possible to fill out detailed questionnaires and allow themselves to be
monitored by researchers on a regular basis.
Scientists will watch for "clusters" of disease - large numbers of
people suffering from a particular ailment who may also share the same
type of cell phone. "If we have a cluster, we'll send out a team into
the field to do in-depth interviews. That may lead us to making some
type of conclusion in terms of a risk or may lead to a follow-up
research study," Carlo said.
Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for the CTIA, said he was not familiar with
the planned studies. But he stressed that the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration and international health organizations "thus far
concluded that wireless phone use has no impact on public health."
The FDA says there is no scientific basis for concluding that cell
phones are unsafe - or safe. The only way to conclusively answer the
safety question is through "a significant research effort," the FDA
says.
That effort is scheduled to get underway later this year when the FDA
and CTIA are expected to announce a joint research effort to determine
if there are cell phone health risks. The National Cancer Institute and
the UN's World Health Organization also are conducting major studies
about whether cell phones spark diseases.
Federal safety regulators are concerned about findings released last
year from two industry-sponsored studies managed by Carlo's
organization.
One of the studies - conducted by the American Health Foundation in New
York - found an association between cell phone use and a rare type of
brain tumor. The other study, conducted by Integrated Laboratory Systems
in Research Triangle Park, N.C., found that DNA in human blood cells
breaks down when exposed to large doses of cell phone radiation,
possibly laying the genetic groundwork for cancer.
With over 86 million cellular phone users in the United States alone and
30,000 new users signing up daily, "this translates into a potentially
significant public health problem, should the use of these devices even
slightly increase the risk of adverse health effects," the FDA says.
Copyright 2000 Hearst News Service. All rights reserved.
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com