The First Congressional Hearings on Cell Phones in 15 Years
Congressman Dennis Kucinich will hold a hearing on cell phones and health in Washington next Thursday, September 25th. Among the witnesses will be Dr. Ronald Herberman of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and Dr. David Carpenter of the Institute for Health and Environment in Albany.
Plus, for those waiting on Interphone, take note: Don't hold your breath!
Read the details at: http://www.microwavenews.com
Louis Slesin, PhD
Editor, Microwave News
A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation
Phone: +1 (212) 517-2800; Fax: +1 (212) 734-0316
E-mail: mwn@pobox.com
Internet: http://www.microwavenews.com
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New York, NY 10075, U.S.A.
September 18… "Where
is Interphone?"
asked Ian Gibson, a member of the U.K. Parliament at last week's
Radiation
Research Trust (RRT) conference
in London. "Whose desk is it on?" No one offered an answer,
not even Anders
Ahlbom, a member of the Swedish Interphone group, who earlier
that morning had given a talk on EMF epidemiology.
During the
lunch break, we ran into Mike
Repacholi, who with RRT's Eileen O'Connor, had helped organize
the meeting at the Royal Society. We asked what he had heard: Was the
Interphone team making progress towards resolving the deadlock now
well into its third year? Early last month, Elisabeth Cardis, the
study director, told the French press that the final paper on
possible cell phone links to brain tumors would likely be submitted
for publication by now (see August
1 below). Repacholi's message was don't hold your breath. "It
seems that they've still got a lot to resolve," he said. "The
study team is not close to consensus," in fact, he went on, "The
positions seemed to have hardened."
When we got back to
New York, we checked in with Cardis. "It's true the paper has
not yet been submitted," she replied, explaining that that it's
hard to make progress over the summer with so many people are on
vacation. When might we expect a consensus draft? "Very soon,"
Cardis told us.
Ian
Gibson, a Labor MP who was a cancer researcher before he got into
politics (he did a postdoc at Indiana University), is one of the few
elected officials watching out for Interphone. Another is Dennis
Kucinich, the Ohio Congressman and former Presidential candidate.
Kucinich may well bring it up next Thursday, September 25th, when his
Domestic
Policy Oversight Subcommittee hosts the first Congressional
hearing on cell phones in 15 years. Among those slated to appear are
David
Carpenter, a coeditor of the BioInitiative
Report, Ronald
Herberman of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (see
July 23, 25 & 28
below) and the FCC's Julius
Knapp, as well as Ellen Marks of California, whose husband is a
brain tumor survivor. A Congressional aide said that the CTIA,
the wireless lobby group, was invited but declined to testify.
[ http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Interphone
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=brain+tumor
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=BioInitiative
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Herberman
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Mike+Repacholi
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Anders+Ahlbom
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=David+Carpenter
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Elisabeth+Cardis