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To: Jon Koplik who wrote (72607)	5/27/2000 12:12:00 AM
From: NinjaDancer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

From ABC abcnews.go.com By Brian Ross May 26 ? Calling all parents: A new British study recommends that parents limit their children?s cell phone use. Brian Ross reports on the study. RealVideo (download RealPlayer) ?We conclude that it is not possible at present to say that exposure to radiation, even at levels below national guidelines, is totally without potential adverse health effects, and that the gaps in knowledge are sufficient to justify a precautionary approach,? the report said. ?If there are currently unrecognized adverse health effects from the use of mobile phones, children may be more vulnerable, because of their developing nervous system, the greater absorption of energy in the tissues of the head and a longer lifetime of exposure,? said Sir William Stewart, biologist and chair of the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones, at a press conference last week. While the American cell phone industry has assured consumers for years that cellular phones are safe, the industry?s former research director has come forward to say this can no longer be presumed. ?We?ve moved into an area where we now have some direct evidence of possible harm from cellular phones,? said Dr. George Carlo, who ran the cell phone industry?s $25 million research program for six years, in an interview with ABCNEWS? 20/20. The $200-billion-a-year cell phone industry maintains the devices are safe. ?There is a preponderance of evidence that there is not a linkage between the use of wireless phones and health effects,? said Thomas Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, the industry?s trade group. Still, the industry has announced that it supports and will sponsor follow-up research. Position Matters Cell phones send electromagnetic waves into users? brains. In fact, every cell phone model sold in the United States has a specific measurement of how much microwave energy from the phone can penetrate the brain. Depending on how close the cell phone antenna is to the head, as much as 60 percent of the microwave radiation is absorbed by and actually penetrates the area around the head, some reaching an inch to an inch-and-a-half into the brain. The cell phone industry said every phone it sells is safe and meets government radiation safety limits. But tests conducted by 20/20 have found that some of the country?s most popular cell phones can ? depending on how they?re held ? exceed the radiation limit. 20/20 reports that government testing guidelines are so vague that a phone can pass the Federal Communications Commission?s requirements when tested in one position and exceed those maximum levels when held in another position. The cell phone industry said every phone sold in the United States meets the federal safety standard, and that there is a huge margin of safety. ?There isn?t data to show that what is happening has a health effect,? Wheeler said, adding that there is no need for Americans to cut back on their cell phone use. ABCNEWS? Brenda Breslauer and Richard Allyn contributed to this report.