Society News Archive
7 August 2000
The feature article in the August issue of IEEE Spectrum, "Are Mobile Phones Safe?", addresses a controversy that continues to be put forth to the public and scientists. Kenneth R. Foster, professor of bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and John E. Moulder, professor of radiation biology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and a specialist in cancer biology, address this question in detail in this article.
The authors point out that the word "safe" brims with legal, regulatory, and ethical implications. They also point out that mobile phone manufacturers must prove not that their products are safe, but that they meet exposure limits.
Foster is also the author of the article "Alarming Precautions about Cell Phones" in the August issue of the Health Physics Society's Newsletter. Moulder et al. provide a more technical review of the subject in "Cell Phones and Cancer: What Is the Evidence for a Connection?" in Radiation Research, Vol. 151, no. 5, pp. 513-31, May 1999, at http://www.radres.org/rare_151_05_0513.pdf and an Internet FAQ sheet at http://www.mcw.edu/gcrc/cop/cell-phone-health-FAQ/toc.html.
The authors point out that the word "safe" brims with legal, regulatory, and ethical implications. They also point out that mobile phone manufacturers must prove not that their products are safe, but that they meet exposure limits.
Foster is also the author of the article "Alarming Precautions about Cell Phones" in the August issue of the Health Physics Society's Newsletter. Moulder et al. provide a more technical review of the subject in "Cell Phones and Cancer: What Is the Evidence for a Connection?" in Radiation Research, Vol. 151, no. 5, pp. 513-31, May 1999, at http://www.radres.org/rare_151_05_0513.pdf and an Internet FAQ sheet at http://www.mcw.edu/gcrc/cop/cell-phone-health-FAQ/toc.html.
