National Academy of Science to review cellphone radiation research

The Food and Drug Administration said the National Academy of Science will conduct a symposium and issue a report on future research requirements regarding possible health effects from radio frequency radiation emitted by mobile phones and other wireless devices, marking the final phase of a government-industry research effort.
FDA said the National Academy of Sciences will organize an open meeting of national and international experts to discuss the research conducted to date, knowledge gaps, and additional research needed to fill those gaps. The workshop will consider the scientific literature and ongoing research from an international perspective to avoid duplication, recognizing the international nature of the scientific community and of the wireless industry. The NAS will provide information about the date, time and location of the meeting.
Cellphone industry trade association CTIA, which entered into a research pact with the FDA in 1999, welcomed the new development.
“The wireless industry supports sound science. CTIA agreed to fund the CRADA (Cooperation Research and Development Agreement) program when public funds were not available for this research,” said the wireless trade group. “Now that the research program has been completed under the FDA’s direction, CTIA . is pleased that the National Academy of Sciences has been selected to convene a meeting in the near future to evaluate all completed, ongoing and planned research looking at health effects associated with the use of wireless communications devices and identify knowledge gaps that may warrant additional research.”
The FDA has legal jurisdiction of radiation-emitting devices, while the Federal Communications Commission regulates the level of radio frequency radiation given off by wireless phones and transmitters operated by cellular carriers.
Government health officials here and abroad say research largely does not point to a health risk from cellphone use, but they support ongoing studies in light of some research that has found adverse biological effects from mobile phones’ low-level radiation.
While the wireless industry has triumphed in the flurry of lawsuits filed since the early 1990s, wireless carriers, manufacturers and trade associations are awaiting a key decision on whether six brain cancer suits will be dismissed or move forward in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The industry’s motion to dismiss the cancer suits on federal pre-emption grounds has been pending for more than two years. The FCC backs industry’s argument that the D.C. Superior Court lacks oversight to pursue the cases.