Wall Street Journal Announces Cell Phone Cancer Link

U.S. Studies using rats, costing $25 million dollars, leaves no room for debate.  The most comprehensive study that has ever been conducted.  Exposed for 10 minutes on and 10 minutes off intervals for 9 hours per day to mimic what humans are exposed to daily.  Tumors in the brain and around the heart were definitely linked to the exposure.

Expert in clip states:

"You can't say these are perfectly safe."

"This calls into question the previous standards that were based on thermal effects only."

BREAKING NEWS: The Cell Phone Right to Know Act

Federal Bill HR6538
"The Cell Phone Right to Know" Bill

  Is Safer Wireless on the Way?

Federal Bill Introduced

to Mandate Radiation Warning Labels

on ALL Cell Phones in the U.S.

(click headline to read full story)

 

We are very excited to inform you that U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced new, groundbreaking legislation Aug. 6 to address concerns about the public's health from cell phone radiation.

This announcement comes just days after 62% of DeKalb County, Georgia, residents voted "NO" on a phone tower referendum that asked whether the school board should place or operate telecommunications towers on any independent, public or charter school. 

The federal bill is something that our group (Get the Cell Out - Atlanta) and others, including The Center for Safer Wireless, The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, the Mount Shasta Research Center, Get the Cell Out of Here, Moms of Merrick, and Get the Cell Out (California) have been anticipating.   

DeKalb County Schools are still awaiting the final decision by the county's CEO regarding whether or not to place cell towers near them.  They are holding out hope that this major announcement, together with the results of the referendum will be enough to convince him that any attempts by T-mobile to file for administrative permits should be denied.  To add your voice to those who have already expressed concern, please email:  burrell@burrell.ellis.com

According to a press release from Congressman Kucinich's office, the bill calls for:

1. Placing warning labels on cell phones,
2. A national research program, and
3. A scientific investigation into the adverse health effects reported by cell phone users. 

Read HR 6358, introduced and referred last week to the US House Energy and Commerce Committee.

  

What's in the Bill? 

HR 6358 directs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to work together to develop a research and public information program to determine whether there are biological and health effects from wireless digital products. 

The bill language seeks to protect against conflicts of interest by participating federal agencies and within the scientific community. Importantly, wireless device usage data would, for the first time in the U.S., be used in performing scientific studies and would result in more accurate and reliable findings.

The bill would also charge the EPA with setting the maximum permissible safety limits, governing exposure to radio frequency radiation. When reviewing research, the EPA would be required to take into account whether the study was funded by an organization that could stand to profit from the research outcome, so it allows for independent research.  EPA would also be required to consider health-specific health outcomes such as insomnia, anxiety, headaches, tinnitus, fatigue, tremors, dizziness, visual disturbances; longstanding concerns raised by the Federal Interagency Work Group; vulnerable sub-populations, including children, developing fetuses and persons who are functionally impaired due to electromagnetic hypersensitivity; non-thermal mechanisms and effects; effects of modulation and pulsing, etc.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would be responsible for implementing and enforcing human exposure standards.  The FDA would issue regulations requiring local retail and internet based sales operations to provide labels on mobile communication devices. Labeling information would compare each device's exposure rating to the maximum permissible safety limit. These changes would help consumers made informed choices when purchasing wireless devices.

With the EPA acting as the lead federal agency, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would increase the number and size of grants for scientists interested in exploring how electromagnetic fields affect human health, including $15 million dollars to be available in research funds during fiscal year 2013 and each subsequent year.

Finally, the bill would remove the federal preemption provision enacted with the Federal Telecommunication Act of 1996 and restore state and local government's traditionally held authority to consider the health and welfare of the people in the siting and management of wireless antennas and towers.

Follow Up to Core Message from

The 2011 Wireless Safety Summit

 Rep. Kucinich's bill incorporates many of the actions we recommended in 2012, as outlined in the Core Message to Congress we generated (as part of the national group known as The Center for Safer Wireless) during the Wireless Safety Summit in October 2011, such as: 

• Initiate a federally sponsored, sustained and independent EMF research program
• Direct the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to adopt lower, interim Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) standards
• Direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop lower, interim electromagnetic radiofrequency human exposure guidelines for radiofrequency transmission antennas
• Direct the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate the radiological properties of consumer products that emit microwave-level radiofrequency radiation

Another key request in the Summit's core message was to ask the U.S. Surgeon General to review research and issue a report on cell phones and wireless radiation devices. Through our efforts, Senator McCain's office sent a letter to the U.S. Surgeon General asking for the review and report. However, Dr. Benjamin declined to initiate the review. Perhaps the introduction of this legislation will bring her to re-evaluate her decision. 

 What You Can Do

Communicate your support of the Cellphone Right to Know Act by contacting your Congressional leaders.  Here's how:

  

• Send this suggested letter to all members of the US House Energy and Commerce Committee.

• Use this suggested letter regarding HR 6358 to send to your Congressional Representative.

• Show your support for the bill at http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h6358/show 

Reading Rack

Representative Dennis Kucinich's press release about the Cellphone Right to Know Act - August 6, 2012

US General Accountability Office Report issued August 6, 2012 that recommends that the US Federal Communications Commission review wireless safety standards established 15 years ago
   
Cellphone Exposure Limits Should be Reassessed, GAO Recommends- Washington Post blog, August 7, 2012 

 Health Risks from Cell Phones Needs Review, US GAO Says - Bloomberg News, August 7, 2012   

Cell Phone Safety Advocate Hopes Congress Forces the FCC to Update Its Regulations- Washington Post - August 4, 2012
 
Will the GAO Report for the FCC Follow the Fate of NAS Report for the FDA? blog  by Dariusz Leszczynski, Washington Times Communities, August 8, 2012 

From the AJC: Lower Income Kids Waste Most Time on Gadgets

Monkey see, Monkey do! 

Guess what?  Kids can waste time using electronic devices, too! 

This is a video of an adorable baby who thinks that a magazine is actually an I-pad that doesn't work: 

While this video is cute, it also gives us a glimpse of the future.  Children who have never known a world without computers, electronic gadgets and games, but how healthy is all of this "virtual reality" and why are we so set on thinking of technology as a measure of education and achievement? 

Do we think that knowing how to use a calculator makes someone a math wizard? 

Do we think knowing how to use spell check makes us better communicators?

We can't even say for sure that the metorologists on television are any better at predicting the weather based on what type of radar system their station tell us they own, can we?

Did our kids get smarter when the "white-board" replaced the blackboard in our classrooms?  Then why would an expensive "smartboard" be any different?

Warning:  an Economic Divide

A post in the Atlanta Journal today even warns us that technology may even create a bigger problem for school districts, like ours here in DeKalb County, where there is a gap in the economic levels of students. 

If the cell towers that we might soon see going up at 8 of our lower income schools are truly educational in purpose, then is that a sign that our school board is leading us down a path of e-books, mobile homework submission and virtual classrooms? 

Will they be using our tax dollars to fund an "I-Pad in every child's hands?"  And, if so, how will our already poor performing, lower income "Title I" students do when they have the added distraction of a new computer to play with? 

How will the rest of their household react to having an I-Pad to "play" with when it is really intended for the child to use for school work? 

Has our board investigated other similar districts who have tried this solution to their educational problems?  Or, are we, once again, expecting our children to be the guinea pigs?  The RF radiation from a cell tower overhead can be expected to cause insomnia, memory problems, confusion and other issues for as much as 35 - 50% of the kids at a cell tower school. 

What about Lakeside?

Meanwhile, Lakeside High School, the school that was reported by board members to have been the original requestor for the cell towers to help them with their coverage problems, is yet to receive a signed contract OR an FCC license for a tower. 

We've suspected all along that they needed Brairlake Elementary School to receive a tower because they knew they would really not be getting one of their own.  And, since cell towers decrease property values, we aren't surprised that the other schools around Lakeside will be getting towers as a means to continue to help this overpriced community justify their sky-high mortgage rates. 

Here's an excerpt from the article from the AJC's Maureen Downey.  As you read it, think about whether or not this is the right direction for DeKalb County.  And, please remember the children when you plan to vote July 31.  Help us keep cell towers off school grounds by voting no on the ballot question and voting against the incumbants who brought cell towers to our schools in the first place, like Paul Womack, District #6.

Get Schooled - Gadgets Waste Time for Some Kids More than Others

3:01 am May 31, 2012, by Maureen Downey

Full text here:
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2012/05/31/new-digital-divide-lower-income-kids-waste-more-time-with-their-gadgets/
(Click link above for full article as well as a link to the NY Times piece.)

Excerpt below:

When technology first began to infiltrate American childhoods, there were fears of a digital divide; children from lower-income families would not have access to the emerging new technologies because of the cost and thus fall behind their more affluent peers whose families could afford cell phones, computers and video game systems.

However, now that access to cell phones and other electronics is widespread, there are fears of a new divide: Poorer kids are wasting more time on their assorted electronic and computer gadgets than more affluent peers.

“Despite the educational potential of computers, the reality is that their use for education or meaningful content creation is minuscule compared to their use for pure entertainment,” said Vicky Rideout, author of a decade-long Kaiser study on online patterns, in a New York Times story on the issue. “Instead of closing the achievement gap, they’re widening the time-wasting gap.”

Closing the digital divide is not improving the educational outcomes of low-income kids, in part because their families have the least ability to monitor their usage of electronics or limit their time.
These issues are important to understand as we are increasingly urged to expand online education options for students, even elementary-age children.

But all children, regardless of income, have come to largely see computer and electronics as entertainment. The challenge is recasting technology as an educational tool.

The Dark Side of Smart Meters, Cell Towers and Cell Phones

Click headline to view video.

How many people are Electro-sensitive?   According to a Sweedish Study referenced in the presentation below, roughly 3% are hypersensitive and between 35 - 50% are moderately sensitive to the radiation emitted from cell towers, cell phones and smart meters.  These folks will feel a range of symptoms including fatigue, memory loss, confusion and other psychological effects.

That means, in DeKalb County, with a school system of 95,000 students, if cell towers are placed at all of our schools:

2,850 children will be so severely impacted that they will have to move or attend school elsewhere.

33,250 - 47,500 would be affected moderately through sleep loss, trouble concentrating and other psychological symptoms likely to be named ADD or other things that are typically treated with prescription medications.

CNN Warning: Your Brain Exposed

(click headline for full story

 

Dr. Keith Black, Chairman of Neurology, Cedars-Sianai Medical Center tell us on CNN that the radiation coming from a cell phone is called "non-ioninzing"  and that it works much like a low-powered microwave oven. 

If that is the case, the the cell tower works the same way, except it is a microwave over without a metal box to contain the radiation so there is nothing to protect your child from the effects of sitting under it nearly all day every day while he / she is at school.

Thanks DeKalb County School Board for another well-planned, well thought out decision that will help us meet our education goals!  Thanks Paul Womack and Lakeside High School for initiating this request knowing full well that your school would not be getting their tower after all.

MobileWise Issues Report to Protect Children

Click to read the new report from the U.K. to limit cell phone use in children.

This week MobileWise, a nonprofit organization located in the United Kingdom, released a new 47- page report: Mobile Phone Health Risks: The Case for Action to Protect Children. The report reviews research on cancer, damage to fertility and reproduction, damage to biological processes, and the vulnerability of children. It recommends that the new leaflets with clear concise cell phone safety information be widely distributed in schools, medical facilities, libraries, cell phone stores, and other public areas.