On Sept. 25, while many legislators on Capitol Hill were debating how best to confront potential dangers of the financial crisis, a handful of lawmakers and physicians were airing concerns by a different would-be danger: prolonged use of cell phones. Their conclusion is that more research is needed, particularly when it comes to kids.

During a hearing before the House subcommittee on domestic policy, Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, used visual aids to drive his point home. Herberman held up model brains, one of an adult and another of a 5-year-old, each with a cell phone held to a corresponding ear.

Cell-phone radiation travels about two inches into an adult brain, but penetrates beyond the center of a child’s brain, Herberman explained. “I cannot tell that committee that cell phones are dangerous, but I certainly can’t tell you they are safe,” said Herberman, who in July issued a memo [BusinessWeek.com, 8/5/08]

urging his 3,000 staffers to limit cell-phone use among themselves and their children. “We urgently need to do a study [to resolve that question],” he told the subcommittee, chaired by Representative Dennis Kucinich [D-Ohio].

No Conclusive Connection

Herberman and several other doctors urged Congress to commission a massive study to determine whether heavy, long-term cell-phone use poses a health threat, particularly to children, who are using cell phones at an increasingly younger age. A survey of more than 2,000 teens in July by market research and consulting firm Harris Interactive (HPOL) showed that 17 million teens, or 79%, use cell phones, up 36% from 2005, according to CTIA, a wireless industry organization.

Scientific studies have not shown a conclusive causal connection amidst cell-phone use and cancer, the physicians acknowledged. Still, much of the existing research hasn’t examined long-term exposure to cell phones, and it’s possible that standards used to…

Original post by dhiram