precaution: Microwave News Article Archive (2004 - )

The New York Times went into damage control mode yesterday after Nick Bilton, a tech columnist and a rising star at the newspaper, suggested that precaution is the best approach to the use of cell phones and wearable electronics.

No sooner had Bilton’s column hit print than Margaret Sullivan, the Times’ Public Editor, chastised Bilton for his naive analysis. (It was posted on the Web a day earlier.) Sullivan targeted the lack of “sophisticated evaluation of serious research.”

Today, the President's Cancer Panel issued its report, Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk. The #1 recommendation is to adopt a precautionary outlook: "A precautionary, prevention-oriented approach should replace current reactionary approaches to environmental contaminants in which human harm must be proven before action is taken to reduce or eliminate exposure" (p.103). The panel also states that, "It is vitally important to recognize that children are far more susceptible to damage from environmental carcinogens" (p.111).

The German Federal Office of Radiation Protection (BfS) has joined its Swedish counterpart in advising caution with respect to the use of mobile phones, following the release of the new Interphone brain tumor paper 

Three senior members of the public health community —each with extensive experience with EMF health research— have called for precautionary policies to limit leukemia risks to children.At a public hearing convened by the Connecticut Siting Council (CSC) on January 9, David Carpenter, Raymond Neutra and Daniel Wartenberg testified in support of prudent avoidance, as advocated by the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH).

Read our special report on the Connecticut hearing, with extended excerpts from Carpenter, Neutra and Wartenberg's prepared testimony. (See also our previous coverage of Connecticut's efforts to establish a state EMF policy.)

The Canadian Cancer Society is endorsing precautionary policies to limit human exposures to power line EMFs. "In the absence of 'hard science,' the society promotes the precautionary principle, which recognizes the value of taking common sense steps to prevent harm to human health or the environment," advises Barbara Kaminsky in a recent statement. South of the border, the American Cancer Society appears to be holding out for conclusive scientific evidence before suggesting anyone take action to limit EMF exposures. 

Precautionary policies to protect children from power line electromagnetic fields (EMFs) should have been adopted years ago. It’s a no-brainer, yet health officials continue to sit on their hands.

There has long been widespread agreement that EMFs are linked to childhood leukemia. They are also likely to play a role in both brain and breast cancer as well as in miscarriages and in neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

But health agencies have been unwilling to move against these largely preventable risks. It’s astonishing that those charged with promoting public health —not just electric utility executives— are the roadblocks to change.