The cellphone industry adheres to ICNIRP guidelines which consider only the thermal effects of non-ionising radiation. However non-thermal (biological) effects have been demonstrated repeatedly, most significantly in a US federal government study conducted by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) and released in May 2016.
According to the Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society “This report from the NTP is good science. The NTP report linking radiofrequency radiation (RFR) to two types of cancer marks a paradigm shift in our understanding of radiation and cancer risk…It’s interesting to note that early studies on the link between lung cancer and smoking had similar resistance, since theoretical arguments at the time suggested that there could not be a link.” [source: American Cancer Society]
Chris Portier former Head of the National Toxicology Program stated, “ this is the best designed animal study every conducted on this topic.” Ron Melnick, who led the NTP study design team, confirmed these leaked results to Microwave News stating, “The experiment has been done and, after extensive reviews, the consensus is that there was a carcinogenic effect.” … The NTP study provides a wake up call to a world growing increasingly dependent on a technology that has never been evaluated for safety. A number of countries including the high-tech nations of Israel, France and India advise their citizens to reduce exposure and employ wired devices in schools and homes. Even before this recent study, the City of Haifa had ordered the removal of Wi-Fi from their schools, concerned about earlier scientific evidence of risk from cell phone and other wireless transmitting devices. [source: EH Trust]
With reference to the NTP study, Scientific American quoted biochemist Jerry Phillips – a former researcher for Motorola: “You have to realize that this issue opens up a much bigger can of worms than cell phones. If this radiation, this form of energy can interact with biological tissue then it’s going to reopen a lot of what were supposedly settled issues regarding the safety of wireless communications.” [source: Scientific American]
In a report released alongside the NTP study, the researchers said: “Given the widespread global usage of mobile communications among users of all ages, even a very small increase in the incidence of disease resulting from exposure to [radio-frequency radiation] could have broad implications for public health.” [source: NTP report of partial findings]
Earlier in 2016, Prof Frank Barnes from the University of Colorado and Ben Greenebaum (Journal Editor of the Bioelectromagnetics Society) announced that they could explain how low levels of RF radiation could alter the growth rates of cancer cells. [source: IEEE]
In 2013 the BBC quoted a Macmillan report saying that by 2020 the number of people in the UK who will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime will increase to 50% of the population. [source: BBC]
This study follows an appeal in 2015 by hundreds of scientists to the United Nations (UN) requesting that it adopt guidelines to protect against the electromagnetic radiation that emit from cell phones, laptops, tablets and other wireless devices.
“They are damaging the living cells in our bodies and killing many of us prematurely,” said Martin Blank, a retired special lecturer in the effects of electromagnetic radiation on cells at Columbia University Medical Center. “Cell towers are blanketing our neighbourhoods with radiation. It’s particularly frightening that radiation from our telecommunication and power line technology is damaging the DNA in our cells. It is clear to many biologists that this can account for the rising cancer rates.” The constant electromagnetic radiation from communication towers could lead to cancer and also cause neurological, cardiac and respiratory disorders, scientists say.
“As cell biologists, we can understand what the cells are saying and it’s quite clear,” said Blank. “But when you have physicists and engineers and politicians and industrial people who are sitting and making these decisions as to what is safe, we’re getting into a situation where it’s more and more of this radiation in our environment with no apparent control. And the levels are so high, that we’re getting the biological reactions and the problems, the medical problems, that are beginning to afflict people in larger numbers.”
Blank said that the increase in obesity, autism and still births may be associated with electromagnetic radiation in the environment. His suggestion for curbing wireless usage was to turn off cell phones and wireless devices when not in use. The International EMF Scientist Appeal asked the UN, its member states and the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide leadership in limiting electromagnetic radiation exposure and to educate the public about its health risks. [Appeal]
NTP report: http://www.emrsa.co.za/report-of-partial-findings-from-the-national-toxicology-program-carcinogenesis-studies-of-cell-phone-radiofrequency-radiation/
Background: http://microwavenews.com/news-center/ntp-cancer-results