by Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff
Executive Director/CEO
Healthy Child Healthy World
www.healthychild.org

What kind of world do we live in when the one thing children want to do most could give them cancer? At least when kids thought smoking was cool there was a warning label on the pack.

Despite studies like the one published last week in Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, which found kids’ brains absorb twice as much cell phone radiation as adults, the FCC continues to insist that “currently no scientific evidence establishes a causal link between wireless device use and cancer or other illnesses,” according to the website Fair Warning.

“The standard for cellphones has been developed based on old science and old models and old assumptions about how we use cellphones,” co-author Devra Lee Davis told ABC News. The study’s authors contend that the FCC’s assessments are based on the radiation absorbed by a large adult male, according to Consumer Reports Health.

Meanwhile, Environmental Health Trust assessed global standards of cell phone regulation and found a “relative lack of action on the part of the United States compared to other countries in response to the latest scientific evidence of cell phones’ health effects.”

Well, duh.

Of course we’re going to lag, when the cell phone industry fights any awareness tooth and nail. According to CBC News, after the city of San Francisco passed a requirement last week for cell phone retailers to warn customers about limiting their exposure to radiation, the trade group representing cell phone companies filed a lawsuit in federal court, citing the new law violates the companies’ First Amendment Rights of freedom of speech.

Please, people. Does it take a “Mad Men” episode to realize the insanity? While the government sorts out this mess, protect your kids from cell phone radiation by making sure they use a headset or speaker, don’t keep their phones in pockets close to their bodies and text more than they talk. Take a look at these additional suggestions from our blog and look for a related petition coming from Healthy Child Healthy World soon.

Can you hear us now?