ReleaseWire Connect

In the final days of the holiday shopping season, environmental health and safety experts are warning parents against buying their children smartphones or Wi-Fi enabled toys, noting that they could pose serious health and safety risks according to experts. Today, Environmental Health Trust (EHT) issued an emergency holiday alert, urging parents and grandparents not to buy their children so-called "smart" phones or watches or other wireless toys as holiday gifts and to limit children's exposures to these devices. Last week, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) advised reducing exposures to the microwave radiation also called radio frequency energy from cell phones—noting the special risks to young children.

French physician Dr. Marc Arazi presented recently released results of cell phone tests conducted by France's national government agency ANFR that found most cell phones can emit more radiation into human users than manufacturers report. The France documentation shows that many cell phones on the market can exceed allowable limits by over three times. The cell phone radiation absorption measurements of the over 350 cell phones France tested were presented in an expert scientific symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on July 31, 2017 sponsored by Environmental Health Trust. This lecture marks the first time the test measurements have been presented in the United States by an expert from France.

French Polynesia has launched a major public awareness campaign to raise awareness about how to reduce exposure to the electromagnetic radiation from electronics, cell phones, and wireless devices as part of the country's new law to reduce citizens' exposures to electromagnetic radiation exposure. Legislation the country adopted in 2016 prohibits advertising of cell phones to children under 14, prohibits advertising cell phones without showing how to minimize radiation exposure to the head, prohibits wireless in nursery schools, limits wireless in primary schools and reduces exposures to workers.

An expert cancer researcher and advisor to the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO/IARC) has issued his scientific opinion that radiofrequency (RF) radiation from any source – such as the signals emitted by cell phones, other wireless and cordless and sensor devices, and wireless networks – fully meets criteria to be classified as a "Group 1 carcinogenic to humans" agent, based on scientific evidence associating RF exposure to cancer development and cancer promotion.

Under court order, the National Frequency Agency (ANFR) of France has just disclosed that most cell phones exceed government radiation limits when tested the way they are used, next to the body. Manufacturers are not required to test phones in shirt or pants pockets. French government tests on hundreds of cell phones reveal that in 2015, 9 out of 10 phones exceed the manufacturer's reported radiation test levels when re-tested in positions where the phone is in contact with the body. The government had refused to disclose these test results until French physician Dr. Marc Arazi pursued legal action.

A new report published this week in American Journal of Epidemiology confirms that Canadians who have used cellphones for 558 hours or more have more than a doubled risk of brain cancer. These important findings strengthen the association between cell phone use and glioma, which is an aggressive brain cancer.

The Italian Court of Ivrea is the first Court in the world to recognize a causal link between cellphone use and brain tumors in an April 11, 2017 ruling that awarded a telecom employee, Roberto Romeo, lifetime damages of 500 euros per month after he developed a brain tumor from fifteen years of cell phone use. The ruling has made international headlines as the court's expert refused to accept telecom industry funded studies as evidence.

On April 1st the Athens Medical Association (AMA) held a Scientific Conference on "Non-Ionizing Radiation and Its Effects on Human Health" at the Athens Medical Association Building, Athens, Greece. Scientific lectures were followed by a discussion, then the Athens Medical Association decision to issue 16 recommendations to reduce human exposure to wireless radiation.

An independently commissioned investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) found that when cell phones were radiation tested in the ways devices are commonly used—such as in the pocket, bra or lap—the radiation detected inside the user's body surpassed the government allowable maximum level. In this week's CBC award-winning Marketplace program entitled "The secret inside your cellphone," acclaimed reporter Wendy Mesley announced results from a US government certified testing laboratory. The investigation found that three popular phone models—iPhone, Galaxy, and Samsung—are below regulated maximums for radiation when they are tested at a specified distance away from the body and head. However, the CBC program revealed that when phones are tested directly against the body, the radiation is multiplied by three to four times and exceeds government limits.

A "Cell Phones and Health" advisory was just released by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) via a California Superior Court order. The document states, "health officials are concerned about possible health effects from cell phone EMFs because some recent studies suggest that long-term cell phone use may increase the risk of brain cancer and other health problems." For three years, the CDPH refused to release the document to Dr. Joel Moskowitz, a Berkeley Professor, arguing that such advice would cause "undue panic." Guidance on cell phones was first issued in the United States a decade ago, in 2007, when the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute issued the first US medical warnings about cell phones to the public and even sent a memo to the Cancer Institute's 3,000 faculty and staff.