IS CELLULAR DOOMED? 
by Ira Brodsky  
 
As published in Pen Magazine, Issue 12, Mar/Apr 1993. Entire contents (c) 1993 by PenWorld, Inc. 
 
	Recent reports linking the use of portable cellular telephones  
with brain tumors have created anxiety among users, manufacturers,  
and service providers.  Is the wireless revolution about to come to a  
screeching halt?  Probably not. 
	In fact, I suspect that the emotional stress produced by these  
reports will prove more injurious to people's health than the  
(allegedly) offending electromagnetic waves. 
	What are the facts?  There are ten million cellular telephone  
subscribers in the US.  Perhaps as many as two million own portable  
phones.  Two cases of brain tumors have been reported.  Of course,  
additional cases may be disclosed in the next few months. 
	11,800 people in the US are expected to die from brain cancer  
this year; 146,000 are expected to die from lung cancer.  We can  
expect 84 portable cellular telephone users to die from brain cancer  
this year even if it is proven that there is no connection between the  
use of portable cellular telephones and getting brain cancer. 
	We also know that the number and scope of studies in this field  
have been inadequate.  While there have been many studies  
regarding the potential health hazards or physiological effects of  
radio frequency energy, few if any have been modeled after portable  
cellular telephone's frequency (800 mHz band), power level  
(maximum: 600 milliWatts), and proximity between antenna and  
living tissue. 
	To my knowledge, the only proven physiological effect of  
microwave radio is heating.  (The 800 mHz cellular telephone band,  
however, is well below the microwave oven band which is located at  
2400 mHz).  It has been suggested that microwave energy could  
have other effects, particularly on cell membrane function, but I  
don't believe this has been proven.   
	One scientist, physiologist Stephen Cleary of the Medical College  
of Virginia, conducted a study showing that the growth of cancerous  
cells is accelerated when exposed to radio waves.  But even Cleary  
says he doesn't believe portable cellular phones cause cancer.  
	The gap between a statistical correlation and proof of cause and  
effect is a longstanding problem faced by all scientific researchers.   
At this point, not enough brain tumor cases have been reported to  
even raise a statistical red flag.  For all we know, the incidence of  
brain cancer among portable cellular telephone users is lower than  
among the population at large.  If this turns out to be the case, it  
would make just as much sense to purchase a portable cellular  
telephone to help prevent brain cancer... 
	Another thing wrong with this episode: if cellular radio waves  
pose a health hazard then the risk should increase with exposure  
(power level, daily usage, and number of years used), services  
adjacent to cellular telephone's frequency band should run similar  
risks: specialized mobile radio (SMR), private two-way radio, and the  
upper UHF-TV channels.  Why have we not heard from these  
quarters?  The signals emitted from TV transmitters (decades of use)  
are thousands of times stronger than those emitted from portable  
cellular telephones.  
 
Health Hazards & The Wireless Industry 
 
	A big part of this dilemma hinges on perception.  People are  
quicker to object to risks they feel they have been subjected to  
involuntarily.  Like the video display terminal (VDT), wireless LANs  
and PBXs could become a new center of controversy for office  
workers.  But it's my impression that most portable cellular  
telephone customers use their phones voluntarily.   
	The wireless industry needs to get on top of the safety issue.   
Credable studies must be commissioned and the results must be  
publicly disclosed.  Once a link between specific wireless products  
and health hazards is even hinted at, the industry finds itself in the  
unenviable position of trying to prove a negative. The fact that  
researchers are having a hard time proving that low power radio  
signals pose a health hazard doesn't make it any easier to prove that  
they do not.  
	I suggest this "Industry Action Plan."  First, data should be  
compiled on the number of cases expected in each related market  
based on the background rate of illnesses that might be linked to  
environmental causes.  Second, the public needs to be made more  
fully aware of the types of electromagnetic radiation to which our  
bodies are already exposed-and how long this exposure has been  
going on.  Third, we need to catalog the various studies that have  
been, or are being, conducted.  Fourth, existing standards for  
maximum exposure should be publicized; most people are not aware  
that the power output of portable cellular telephones is already  
subject to safety restrictions.  And finally, studies must be  
commissioned to fill in knowledge gaps in those areas likely to be of  
concern to the public. 
	As for the emerging personal communications industry, the  
maximum power output of handheld personal communicators and  
personal digital assistants will generally be lower that that of  
portable cellular phones.  Therefore, the risks will be lower.   
	Wireless manufacturers have no excuse for being caught off  
guard by the brain tumor scare.  This episode was foreseeable.   
Nevertheless, cellular telephone use will continue much as before.   
The fact is that people are willing to accept small risks as long as  
they know they have a choice. 
 
About The Author:  Ira Brodsky is President of Wilmette, Illinois- 
based Datacomm Research Company, a market research firm  
specializing in emerging wireless communications.  Brodsky is  
Chairman of Wireless User '93 Conference & Exposition which will be  
held March 29 - April 1, 1993 at Walt Disney World Village near  
Orlando, Florida.  Readers can reach Dr. Wireless via radio at his  
Internet address: <brodsky@radiomail.net>.  
 
___________________________________________________________ 
Who Started This? 
 
	On Thursday, January 21, 1993, a group of guests on CNN's  
Larry King Live, claimed that they contracted brain cancer from their  
hand-held cellular phones. 
	This group based their claims on the warnings issued in  
manuals accompanying cellular phones.  For instance, the manual for  
the NEC P201 portable phone, which one of the guests used, cautions:  
"Radio Frequency Injury.  Your phone is a power transmitting device.   
When the phone is in use, radio frequency with a power output level  
ranging from 0.6 to 3.0 watts of radio frequency energy radiates  
from the antenna.  Avoid direct contact with the phone antenna  
and/or direct exposure to the radio frequency energy radiated from  
the antenna at high-level radiation periods. 
	How can you avoid contact with the antenna when it's right by  
your ear?  Furthermore, how do you avoid exposure with radiowaves  
which you cannot detect? Hence the controversey. What is or was  
really meant by the "caution" placed on packages by manufacturers? 
	Although NEC (named in one suit) declined to comment,  
Motorola's Senior Vice President said that their warning was only for  
the car phone antenna, which one wouldn't be close to, and it was  
only because of the heat generated during operation that the  
warning is listed. 
	Dr. Mays Swycord of the FDA has stated that studies indicate  
that cellular phone radio waves accelerate cancer growth, but do not  
cause the disease.  And Dr. Thomas Stanley of the FCC issued a  
statement reassuring the public that devices using less than 0.7  
watts of power are considered safe by the government.  Cellular  
phones use only 0.63 watts. 
	Relax, you probably have nothing to worry about. 
 
___________________________________________________________ 
 
If you want to keep-up with the fast-paced world of pens, PDAs,  
Communicators and related technologies, subscribe to 'PEN: The  
Magazine of Pen-based Computing' and save $$$. 
12 issues: $36 U.S., $44 Canada/Mexico, $62.50 Int'l Airmail 
Money-Back Guarantee.  Mastercard/Visa Accepted. 
Call 800/ 383-PENS, fax 310/ 377-8218, or email 71333,124 
 
