Group keeps cell phone health debate raging on

Admit it. When you buy a cell phone, you’re looking for sex appeal.

Does it have Bluetooth? A slide-down or flip-out key pad? How many gigs for stashing your music collection? Apps?

Now comes an advocacy group suggesting you check something else — the level of radiation your cell phone sends sizzling toward your skull.

“You should pay attention to the amount of radiation that’s being absorbed by your head,” said Olga Naidenko, a senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group. “There is a danger.”

While the cellular industry dismisses such fears and the federal government essentially declares the phones safe, Naidenko’s organization thinks the radiation can cause brain cancer and other illnesses.

So this week, it released a ranking of phones by the level of radiation emitted — from the lowest-radiation Samsung Impression to three models, including the Kyocera Jax S1300, that put out more than four times as much radio frequency energy.

The group suggests not just that you shop for a lower-radiation phone, but that you use a speaker phone and other tools to keep the device away from your ear.

In issuing its rankings, the Environmental Working Group — a nonprofit advocacy group concerned mostly with health problems it associates with pollution — injects itself into a scientific controversy that has simmered for years without consensus.

Waves emitted by cell phones come in the radio frequency range, and they don’t come with the penetrating power of X-rays or radioactivity. But there is speculation about ongoing exposure.

To date, studies have either been inconclusive or at odds. Often, researchers conclude that the truth will only be known when large numbers of cell phone users have had decades of exposure.

“The weight of scientific evidence has not linked cell phones with any health problems,” says a Food and Drug Administration statement.

In its review of literature, the Environmental Working Group said the evidence showed that more than 10 years of cell phone use begins to increase chances of brain tumors, salivary gland tumors, migraines and vertigo and behavior problems in children.

The group says the Federal Communications Commission’s standards for cell phone radiation are outdated and don’t account for increased cell phone use by younger children. It contends that their developing brains are more susceptible to damage from cell phones.

Yet the debate goes on. A recent study in Great Britain found “no evidence that the risk of developing pituitary tumors is associated with cellular phone use.” A Swedish study published this summer did find a correlation between cell phone and cordless phone use and tumors. Yet a third piece of recent research failed to connect tumors to cell phones, but said that conclusion was less convincing “because the observation period has been too short.”

“Anybody who tells you we know or don’t know the risk is wrong,” said Louis Slesin, the editor of Microwave News. “We don’t know the answer to this question.”

The FCC limits the “specific absorption rate” of radiation from cell phones to 1.6 watts per kilogram. Manufacturers are required to make the measurements — widely seen as an imperfect method — by operating the phones next to a mannequin head filled with liquid. They measure the amount of energy that reaches the watery center.

You can find out how much your cell phone emits by looking for the phone’s FCC identification number, typically printed inside the phone behind the battery, and entering that number at an FCC Web site.

By SCOTT CANON

The Kansas City Star