SACRAMENTO
— Newly released public
records show that California
public health officials worked
for five years on a set of
guidelines to warn the public
about the potential dangers of
cell phones, revising their
work 27 times with updated
research before abandoning the
efforts without ever making
their concerns public until
ordered by a judge.
The
27 versions of the guidelines,
obtained by The Chronicle,
show that California health
officials deleted a section
that warned state employees
with work-issued cell phones
about the potential increased
risk for brain cancer from use
of the devices over time. The
final version of
the guidelines was a broad
warning to the public about
exposure to electromagnetic
fields emitted by cell phones.
It included a list of best
practices to minimize
exposure.
Joel Moskowitz, a public
health researcher at UC
Berkeley who sued the state to
force the release of the
records, said state officials
should never have withheld the
warnings from the public.
Lawyers for the state had
argued in court that release
of the warnings could cause
unnecessary panic.
“It would have to be purely
political to deny distributing
this,” Moskowitz said.
“Science supports this.”
Sacramento County Superior
Court Judge Shelleyanne Chang
ordered the state in March to
turn over the final version of
the guidelines from 2014. This
week, as part of the lawsuit,
the judge forced California
health officials to turn over
all the previous versions of
the guidelines it had kept
secret.
It’s unclear what debate went
on inside the California
public health department over
the guidelines — and whether
there was any influence from
outside the health department.
The Chronicle submitted a
public records request to the
California Department of
Public Health in March asking
for emails or documents
related to why the cell phone
guidelines were never approved
to be made public — and to see
if there was any outside
influence. The department
refused to release records,
saying those that existed were
protected by attorney-client
privilege.
The little information that is
known about the state’s
efforts to create and then
abandon cell phone guidelines
can be gleaned from
Moskowitz’s lawsuit and the
newly released documents.
The first version of the
guidelines, from 2009, said
recent studies of cell phone
and cordless phone usage
“suggest that after 10 years
of heavy use there is an
increased risk of malignant
brain cancer and a kind of
benign tumor in the inner ear,
particularly on the side of
the head where these phones
are usually placed.” The state
department reviewing the
material, the Division of
Environmental and Occupational
Disease Control, wrote that
following its own “unpublished
meta-analysis,” it agreed with
the conclusions of the
studies. Similar language
about long-term effects was
included in the later
versions, but not the part
about a consensus of study
findings by the division.
The first version also
included this language, which
was later removed: “Although
most cell phone and cordless
phone heavy users would not
get brain cancer, the number
of brain cancer patients
coming to hospitals would
increase and would represent a
significant cost to society in
suffering, medical costs and
economic costs that one would
want to avoid.”
Additionally, the first
version noted that that the
lifetime risk of getting brain
cancer is low, but that
longtime heavy use of cell
phones and cordless phones is
enough to be of “regulatory
concern.” That “regulatory
concern” was removed in the
later versions
.
The early document also
included the section of state
employees, which was deleted.
It detailed how state
government and its employees
could lower the risk of
exposure, such as reducing the
time workers were required to
be on their cell phones,
avoiding purchasing cordless
phones for office use and
ensuring employees have
headsets.
The first version also warned:
“Do not allow children to use
a cell phone, except for
emergencies.” The final
version said “parents may want
to limit their child’s cell
phone use to texting,
important calls and
emergencies.”
“I want to know why this was
suppressed,” Moskowitz said,
referring to information he
feels parents should be aware
of.
The California Department of
Public Health declined an
interview request, releasing
only written statements.
“The draft cell phone
guidelines attempted to
characterize the complex
science around radiofrequency
electromagnetic field (EMF)
and provide options for people
who want to reduce their
exposure,” the statement read.
The California public health
department told The Chronicle
in March that it abandoned the
guidelines because the federal
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention issued national
guidance on the same subject
in 2014. But, even those
national guidelines were the
subject of controversy.
CDC’s updated guidelines in
2014 read “we recommend
caution in cell phone use,”
but that language was deleted
weeks later.
A
New York Times investigation
last year examining more than
500 pages of internal CDC
records found the agency’s new
language had been worked on
for three years, but soon
after it was published
officials grew concerned that
it was being mistaken as a
policy change. The language
was then changed again in 2014
to say “some organizations
recommend caution in cell
phone use. More research is
needed before we know if using
cell phones causes health
effects.”
Moskowitz said he hopes the
state will decide to adopt and
post the guidelines its own
department created.
“It seems to me better late
than never to notify the
public,” Moskowitz said. “The
public has a right to this
information paid for with
their tax dollars.”
The statement from the
California Department of
Public Health said there are
no plans to post the
guidelines on its website.
Melody Gutierrez is a San
Francisco Chronicle staff
writer. Email: mguti...@sfchronicle.com.
Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
Cell phone use
guidelines
Increase the distance between
you and your cell phone by:
Using the speaker phone.
Sending text messages.
Use a headset and carry your
phone away from your body.
EMFs from wireless (Bluetooth)
and wired headsets are usually
weaker than those from a cell
phone.
Keep your phone away from your
body. A cell phone that is on
can emit EMFs even when it is
not being used.
Do not sleep with your cell
phone near you or carry it in
a pocket or directly on your
body unless the phone is
turned off.
Keep cell phone calls short,
even when using a wireless or
wired headset.
Take off your headset when
you’re not on a call. Wireless
and wired headsets emit EMFs
even when you are not using
your phone.
Do not rely on devices that
claim to shield or neutralize
EMFs from cell phones. These
devices have not been shown to
reduce exposures.
Source: California Department
of Public Health
http://bit.ly/CDPHsfchron
