“A literature review on the [potential health risks to children from mobile phones] by Luc Martens of Belgium’s Ghent University was posted on the Bioelectromagnetics Web site a few days ago.
Anyone who doubts how little we know about all this should check it out.
Not counting the abstract, references and acknowledgments, the review runs just three pages —that’s it.
There’s not much to say because we don’t know much.
Even the relatively long-running controversy over whether children absorb more radiation than adults due to their thinner skulls and whether the radiation penetrates deeper into their heads —sometimes referred to as Salt Lake City vs. Zurich or Gandhi vs. Kuster— remains unresolved. Or as Martens puts it, “There is still an inconsistency in the literature.”
The fact is that most of the literature on cell phone health risks is inconsistent.
[1]Not only don’t we know whether the unlimited use of mobile phones is riskier for children than for adults, we don’t know how great the risk is for adults.
Regardless of all this uncertainty, U.S. mobile companies, ever hungry for more profits, are now targeting children as young as six.
The health issue is so far off the radar screen that in the last week, Time, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal have all run major stories on the selling of kiddie phones.
Not one of them even mentioned health concerns.
Youri Grigoriev of the Institute of Biophysics in Moscow predicted this would happen after Eric van Rongen and the Health Council of the Netherlands’ finding that there is no scientific rationale to limit children’s use of cell phones.
To be fair, van Rongen is hardly alone.
As we have made clear in earlier postings, the World Health Organization (led by Mike Repacholi) and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (led by Paolo Vecchia) are similarly more concerned with maintaining scientific integrity than with addressing uncertain health impacts.
Here’s how Grigoriev closed his response to van Rongen and the other members of the council: “The resolution of the Health Council of the Netherlands that it ‘sees no reason for recommending limiting the use of mobile phones by children,’ opens the way for aggressive advertisement of a ‘cellular phone for each child’ and the possibility of using cellular phones by children without limit or control.”
A couple of things might surprise you about the above.
Firstly, these words weren’t written by me.
Secondly, these words were written nearly 10 years ago.
Thirdly, an observation: how little things have changed since then. Could we ever have imagined 10 years ago the extent to which cell phones would take over our kids lives?
These words were written by someone who's been following the EMFs issue for over 30 years.
Someone who’s well versed on EMFs. Very well versed.
He’s got a degree in Chemistry from John Hopkins University, an MA in Chemical Physics from Columbia and a Ph.D in Environmental Policy from M.I.T., Cambridge.
He’s won a string of honors and awards. Notably he’s a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
That someone is Louis Slesin.
Never heard of him?
For the last 30 years he’s been best known as the editor and publisher of Microwave News [2] “ reporting on the health and environmental impacts of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and other types of non-ionizing radiation.”
Microwave News is something of an institution.
It started as a bimonthly newsletter in 1981 and went onto a web-based format in 2003.
What’s so admired about Microwave News is its fair and objective stance.
Here's what the Washington Journalism Review (now American Journalism Review) has to say about Microwave News:
“[ It's] the world's most authoritative source on EMF health risks.”
High praise indeed.
As far as we know Louis Slesin is the sole driving force behind Microwave News.
You see he’s not someone who courts the limelight.
He doesn’t give many interviews.
But he’s agreed to give me one.
Its quite a scoop.
Next Thursday May 29th at 1:00 p.m. EST (10 AM PST or 5 PM GMT) Louis Slesin is my interview guest.
If you’re not sure of the time zone where you live you can check it here [3] or here [4].
I’ve chosen the teleseminar format so that you can follow via your computer or using your telephone.
The idea is that you get to ask your questions. You can do this in 2 ways:
– before the day, by clicking here [5] and sending me your question
– on the day, by putting your question directly to my guest
Registration for this event is free but you do need to sign up by using the above link to receive the teleseminar details.
UPDATE:
This interview has now been broadcast. You can access the MP3 download and transcript of this interview here https://www.electricsense.com/interviews-emf-experts-offer/ [6]