EMF Health Report Covering the Health Effects of ElectroMagnetic Fields

The Cellular Phone Controversy: Real or Contrived? by Robert B. Goldberg, Ph.D., Editor EMF Health Report, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1993. The recent cellular phone/cancer controversy was generated largely by popular press coverage of a single law suit in which a Florida man alleged that his wife's brain tumor was caused by her use of a hand-held cellular phone. Though the story has faded from the headlines, it is only a matter of time before the issue resurfaces, given the lack of definitive research on which to base claims of safety or cancer risk. What follows is an overview of the controversy and a review of the cellular phone/cancer question in light of the available scientific evidence. David Reynard filed suit in Pinellas County (FL) Circuit Court on April 8, 1992, against NEC Corporation of Japan (the phone manufacturer), Coastal Radiotelephone (the phone seller), and the subsidiary of GTE Corporation that provided the phone service. News of the suit first appeared in local newspapers and then nationally on CNN's Moneyline. On the Larry King Live cable television talk show January 21, 1993, Reynard stated, "It appeared that it [his wife's tumor] was in the location directly next to the antenna, and the tumor seemed to be growing inward from that direction." Following the Larry King interview, Reynard appeared on numerous television and radio shows, and hundreds of related articles have appeared in the U.S. and international print media. Additionally, a class-action suit was filed on behalf of consumers on February 1 in Cook County (IL) Circuit Court against cellular phone manufacturers, among them Motorola, Inc., and Mitsubishi Electronics Corporation (Verb et al. v. Motorola et al.). The suit alleges that the companies failed to adequately research the possible health threat from exposure to EMFs emitted by cellular phones. Industry impact. The cellular phone industry initially underestimated the potential impact of the Reynard lawsuit on the public. Cellular industry executives pointed out that the phones met all existing safety guidelines, and denied any possibility of health risks. Stated Paul Staiano, President of Motorola General Systems, "Forty years of research and more than ten thousand studies have proved that cellular phones are safe" (ABC's 20/20, January 29, 1993). Ronald Nessen, Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA), commented, "I thought when [the media] looked at this information they would see this was a law suit with an unsubstantiated charge...What a mistake" (The Washington Post, February 9, 1993). Following this publicity, the value of cellular phone company stocks plummeted 10-15%, but has since recovered. Faced with a need for damage control, cellular carriers such as Bell Mobile Systems, sent literature to their customers stressing that there are no studies confirming a health hazard associated with phone use, and that the radiofrequency (RF) EMF levels produced by cellular phones are well below current exposure guidelines. Government reaction. On February 2, a Congressional hearing was held involving the Food and Drug Administration, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), university researchers, and cellular telecommunications industry representatives. The intent of this closed hearing was to explore the scientific basis for concern and map out future regulatory and research actions which might be taken. The government agencies recommended further study of EMF health effects and moderation in use of the phones until more is known. An FDA Talk Paper, dated February 4, 1992, suggested, "...those who spend long periods of time on their hand-held cellular phones could consider holding lengthy conversations on conventional phones and reserving the hand-held cellular models for shorter conversations...." Existing research. The research on which current RF EMF exposure guidelines are based was mostly done at higher frequencies (such as those used for microwave ovens, communications, or radar) rather than at frequencies used for cellular phones. Some studies of workers exposed to EMF in their jobs showed a doubling of their risk for brain tumors. These "electrical workers" are a mixed group of individuals exposed to many different EMF frequencies, as well as toxic chemicals such as industrial solvents. A few studies have focused on people exposed mainly to RF EMF, such as personnel exposed to high levels of microwave radiation in the U.S. embassy in Moscow, radar research workers, and military radar operators. Results indicated no increased incidence of brain tumors, but the studied groups may have been too small to show a slight risk increase. In the laboratory, animals have been exposed to controlled RF EMF treatments. One long- term study with rats exposed to low levels of RF showed an increased number of cancers in the animals, but scientists working on the project felt this was coincidental since there was no increase in any one particular type of tumor or in noncancerous growths as would be expected from experiments with cancer-causing agents. Most studies indicated effects only at high enough intensity levels to cause localized or overall heating of the animal's body. Some experiments indicate that RF EMF, which is turned rapidly on and off (pulsed), produces greater effects than steady exposure to RF EMF of the same average intensity. However, if RF EMF acts only as a heat source, no difference would be expected in the biological effects of pulsed versus steady exposure. Therefore, the complex RF EMF signals used in cellular phone transmissions may have different biological effects than the constant RF EMF used in most experiments. Among the laboratory experiments which have attracted the greatest interest and controversy are some done with isolated cells and tissues. Such experiments have shown that new growth patterns can be triggered in cells by RF EMF treatment alone or that effects of chemical agents which cause cancer-like growth patterns can be substantially increased by simultaneous RF EMF treatment. Some experiments indicate that biochemical processes in cells can be stimulated or inhibited by RF EMF only if it is delivered with a particular pattern of variation in exposure level (termed "low frequency amplitude modulation"). Researchers treat these reports of low-level EMF effects with caution because the experiments have not been widely repeated by other scientists. There are many steps between effects seen under laboratory conditions and real human health consequences. Mitigating these consequences is the fact that healthy living systems are able to repair damage produced by environmental insults to some extent. It is therefore impossible to say if effects seen in the test tube are relevant to real world hazards. Nevertheless, these results raise the possibility that EMF may act on living systems as a specific signal rather than simply as a source of heat energy. If this is true, the specific RF EMF patterns produced by cellular phones may have to be extensively evaluated for safety instead of relying on experiments done at other EMF frequencies. Additional research. Calls for additional research have come from virtually every quarter. Future and ongoing studies to determine if there is a cancer- causing effect from exposure to cellular phone EMFs include the following: NCI added EMFs from cellular phones to the risk factors that will be studied in its planned review of U.S. brain cancer cases. A study funded by McCaw Cellular Communications will determine the amount of RF EMF given off by cellular phones and its pattern of absorption in the human head and brain. This project is headed by Om Gandhi, an electrical engineer at the University of Utah, who has worked on similar studies for many years in relation to exposure guidelines and the use of RF EMF for heating tissues as a treatment for cancer. CTIA announced that the cellular telecommunications industry will fund government-approved research to resolve the cellular phone-cancer question. The Department of Health and Human Services, FCC, and EPA have been asked to appoint a research review panel for this work. On June 4, 1993, a CTIA spokesperson contacted by the EMF Health Report indicated that they are still reviewing the scientific literature to determine research needs and have not yet set a budget for the program. Motorola will continue to sponsor research by W. Ross Adey, an experienced research scientist at the VA Medical Center, Loma Linda, CA, who first suggested that weak RF fields can have effects on brain tissue in studies published in the 1970s. Adey's research for Motorola is on the potential for promoting the formation of brain tumors in rats exposed to modulated RF EMF and the effects of RF EMF on isolated brain cells. New EMF health concerns. The controversy about cellular phones has pushed the EMF-cancer debate from concern over EMF from power lines into the realm of the communications industry. Although EMFs from power transmission and cellular phones are at different ends of the EMF frequency spectrum, concerns are similar. Existing safety guidelines are primarily based on well documented effects of high-level EMFs. Health surveys of humans and laboratory studies have raised a possibility that extremely weak EMFs may also produce biological effects, and that some of these effects could be harmful. This research suggests that it is not only the total energy contained in EMF that is responsible for its effects on living systems, but that there are interactions which occur only at specific frequencies and intensity levels. The validity of these research results is controversial because many have not been repeated by independent groups of scientists. Most scientists consider these results only suggestive of effects, but not convincing enough to support strong action to regulate EMF. Other scientists, recognizing that the research data are inadequate to establish that the EMF from devices like cellular phones is either risky or safe, see a high priority need to fund additional hazard-based research. As society heads towards a "wireless world" of cellular networks, computers, fax machines, phones, etc., those anxious about possible health hazards associated with exposure to EMFs will have increasing reason for concern. The multibillion dollar communications industry is already banking on the possibilities of wireless communications. Motorola, for example, is developing a $3.4 billion portable telephone satellite network, dubbed Iridium, which is slated to begin commercial operation in 1998. With the currently limited research funding, even preliminary answers to health effects questions may not be available. The public will demand stringent guarantees of safety for themselves and their families as new EMF technology is introduced.