Health Policy Groups Question FCC’s Allowing Manufacturer Violation of Its Cell Phone Microwave Radiation Exposure Limit

Majority of cell phones on market may exceed FCC’s stated RF safety
limit of 1.6 W/kg, experts warn

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s General Counsel, Howard
Symons, Esq., and Associate Chief Counsel in the Office of Engineering
and Technology, Bruce Romano, Esq., have offered no acknowledgement or
reply to an inquiry posing questions about whether the FCC is adequately
enforcing its existing cell phone radiation safety limits.

The inquiry letter to the FCC from Swankin & Turner in Washington, D.C.
was sent September 9, 2016 on behalf of the National Institute for
Science, Law & Public Policy (NISLAPP) and the Environmental Health
Trust (EHT). Now four months later, the FCC’s lack of reply to important
questions contained in the letter raises serious concerns of regulatory
responsibility and competency.

The inquiry letter to the FCC suggests as many as 75% of cell phones on
the market today may possibly exceed the FCC’s exposure limit of 1.6
W/kg peak spatial Specific Absorption Rate (psSAR), due to a +/-30%
margin of error (or uncertainty factor) in the Institute of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) methodology for assessing psSAR (on
which the FCC’s exposure limits are substantially based). Any phone with
a psSAR of greater than 1.231 W/kg with the 30% uncertainty factor could
theoretically exceed the 1.6 W/kg FCC limit.

Examples of how various popular phones brands, and wireless transmitting
devices (WTDs) such as tablets, may easily exceed the FCC’s limit, with
psSARs as high as 2.08 W/kg, were included with the letter as Exhibit A.

The inquiry letter to the FCC from Swankin & Turner also posed other
questions regarding FCC oversight of cell phone and wireless
transmitting devices, including how the FCC considers its current safety
limit to protect children if the psSAR assessment methodology the FCC
uses was never intended to protect children.

L. Lloyd Morgan, Senior Research Fellow, Environmental Health Trust,
says, “We urge the media, all cell phone users and public health
officials to contact the FCC, as well as members of Congress, demanding
a response to this important letter of inquiry. It appears many cell
phones on the market should never have been certified.“

Camilla Rees, Senior Policy Advisor, National Institute for Science, Law
& Public Policy, says, “The FCC has failed to protect children, despite
scientific evidence there is significantly greater absorption of cell
phone radiation in the brain and bone marrow of the skull in children,
compared to adults. So the question of how the FCC considers its safety
limits to protect children calls for an immediate and urgent reply. An
entire generation looks to be at risk.”

Dr. Devra Davis, PhD, President of the scientific and policy research
organization, Environmental Health Trust, adds, “The issues raised in
this inquiry letter highlight the FCC’s failures to protect public
health. We urge FCC leadership in the new Administration to come to the
table with integrity to see that the important questions raised here are
answered thoroughly, and that steps are taken to assure compliance with
the FCC’s psSAR microwave radiation safety limit.”

Contacts

Environmental Health Trust
Devra Davis, PhD
Founder &
President
www.ehtrust.org
307-203-2413
info@ehtrust.org
or
L.
Lloyd Morgan, B.S.
Senior Research Fellow
510-841-4362
Lloyd.L.Morgan@gmail.com
or
National
Institute for Science, Law & Public Policy
Camilla Rees, MBA
Senior
Policy Advisor
917-359-8450
crgr@aol.com