The U.S. FDA has long sidestepped the cell phone-health controversy even though Congress gave the agency that responsibility.
This week's issue of BusinessWeek, asks whether Disney is making a smart move targeting young kids for its new Disney Mobile service. In its defense, the company says that it's "relying on the FDA" and that the FDA has repeatedly stated that there is no danger. As BusinessWeek reports, the FDA's position is: "there's no available scientific evidence of health problems associated with using wireless phones."
This begs the question: Why is Howard Cyr, the FDA's point man on cell phone radiation risks, ignoring studies from two different Swedish research groups (one from Örebro University and one from the Karolinska Institute) that independently point to an association between acoustic neuroma and long-term (more than 10-year) cell phone use. Cyr also dismisses the long-term cell phone-brain tumor risk, which others say is still very much an open issue.
In light of Cyr's Panglossian outlook, BusinessWeek concludes: "the only thing protecting kids from possible danger is their parents."
