Re: any science to this?

[Bernard Cleyet <anngeorg@PACBELL.NET>]

There are anecdotes of a cancer cluster among SLAC workers.  One victim
* told me he liked to think the cause was superior intelligence.

I thought there was a rather long PHYS-L thread on this subject re.
brain tumors and cell phone use.  One poster thought it unlikely as 1
gHz is non ionizing.  Some one pointed out that molecular organic bonds
are rather weak and subject to spontaneous breaking.  (don't cells have
a device to repair DNA?);  another thought there might be a focussing
effect and localized heating was the cause.

I'm such a cautions person that I don't camp out in front of my
microwave ovens, especially since a new one interferes with my 900 Hz
wireless speakers.   We stay well away from our base stations and I use
headphones / mich., instead of having the home radio'phone's ant. next
to my skull.  We don't have satellite or cell. 'phones.

Two points:

1, precautionary principle. **
2, most cancers have "incubation" periods of many years. ***


* any further detail would identify him.
** an excellent example is asbestos; a more politically charged one is DU.
*** melanoma tends to occur in people who sun burned much as youths,
then had an episode of sunburn late in life, the tumor occurs within a
few years.

I badly burned as a result of moving from Palo Alto to Santa Barbara
(fifth and sixth grades)    Hardly ever burned 'till (ca. 1990) invited
by a friend to overcast Half Moon Bay.  The melanoma came a year or two
later.

bc who calls sunny Summer days, melanoma days, avoids the sun like the
plague, and thanks his sharp eyed dermatologist.

p.s. the low freq. EM rad. scare was the result of a long article (two
issues) in the New Yorker.  This prompted some Librarians at UCSC to
have EH&S measure the field where they worked, which was near a major
transformer.  EH & S didn't have a detector, so I gave the RSO a coil
and DMM.  I used the Helmholtz coils for e/m (Bainbridge) to calibrate.



John Clement wrote:

> I once reviewed some evidence for low frequency electromagnetic radia=
> tion
> and found that the statistics were so poor that one could not come up=
> with
> any evidence for harm.  That particular flap has now been forgotten. =
> Of
> course this does not say anything about high frequency radiation.  I =
> think
> it should be noted that high frequency radiation is all around us, an=
> d that
> a cell phone subjects you to much higher levels than a laptop would. =
> Notice
> the citing of 400 articles.  Essentially this is like saying that bec=
> ause
> 400 people agree their opinion becomes a fact.  I would ask "what is =
> the
> quality of the articles".  How many of them were published in referee=
> d
> journals?  How many of the summaries just repeat other summaries and
> articles?
>
> =20
>
> There may be a small grain of truth in harmful effects from ambient E=
> M
> radiation, but I have not seen any serious evidence for it.  I know t=
> hat one
> of the bigger hazards to children is hot dogs.  However I have not he=
> ard of
> any parent groups campaigning to ban them because of the choking haza=
> rd.
>
> =20
>
> After skimming the cited evidence, there is certainly evidence for ef=
> fects,
> but the significance is hard to quantify.  Some references showed har=
> mful
> effects at high intensity, but not at low intensity.  A good example =
> of an
> ambiguous reference is number 6 which pointed out that no causal
> relationship could be established from that one study.  There seem to=
> be
> some decent studies which may point to possible harm.  However, if th=
> is is
> true then we must shut down all of the TV and radio transmitters, bec=
> ause
> some of the studies implicated them.  Incidentally some studies found=
> an
> increasing childhood leukemia, but not in more common cancers.  This =
> is very
> strange because childhood leukemia is of such low incidence that it t=
> he
> statistics on it are very low.  I suspect that some researchers are n=
> ot
> doing the statistics right.  The ELF flap was over childhood leukemia=
> and
> the statistical evidence was not there.
>
> =20
>
> Of course the available negative articles were not in the summary.  I=
> would
> like to see a good metastudy of the available evidence.  With a varie=
> ty of
> effects which are just barely perceptible, a large scale study or met=
> astudy
> is needed to quantify the exact magnitude of the harm.  Often when th=
> is is
> done the evidence for harm statistically evaporates, or the amount of
> possible harm is so low that it is less than the background. =20
>
> =20
>
> John M. Clement
>
> Houston, TX
>
> =20
>
> =20
>
> =46rom a legal briefs notice by the National School Board Association=
> :
>
> =20
>
>
> Technology
> A group of parents in Oak Park Elementary School District 97 (Ill.) h=
> as
> filed a class action lawsuit in state court claiming that the wireles=
> s
> network installed by the district is harmful to their children. The s=
> uit,
> which legal experts believe is the first of its kind, claims that the
> district installed the wireless local network in the classrooms despi=
> te a
> "body of evidence" that finds exposure to high-frequency electromagne=
> tic
> radiation to be especially harmful to children. The plaintiffs' compl=
> aint
> alleges that there are "more than 400 scientific articles, summaries,=
> and
> references outlining the health risks from low-intensity radio freque=
> ncy
> radiation exposure." The plaintiffs also accuse the district of refus=
> ing to
> invite experts to explain the available research. The district, throu=
> gh
> spokeswoman Gail Crantz, responded that it found the allegations "cur=
> ious,"
> because over a two-year period both sides had several experts testify=
> and
> the board concluded that wireless technologies are safe. While other =
> school
> districts that have installed wireless networks have found no harmful
> effects, some experts in the field argue that parents' concerns shoul=
> d be
> taken seriously. Bob Moore, executive director of information technol=
> ogy at
> the Blue Valley Unified School District (Kan.), believes that "[s]cho=
> ols
> need to do their homework and be well informed about the implementati=
> on of
> any new technology, Wi-Fi included." Oak Park is continuing to use it=
> s
> wireless network, even though the plaintiffs requested the district s=
> hut it
> down until the district can prove it poses no health or safety risk.
>
> eSchool News
> By Cara Branigan
> [Link <http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStorytw.cfm?ArticleID=3D47=
> 12>  to
> full story]
>
> [Editor's Note: The complaint, with appendices detailing studies on
> electromagnetic radiation, is available below.]
>
> [Legal complaint <http://www.nsba.org/cosa2/wireless.pdf> ]
>
>
>
>
>
> C 2003 National School Boards Association
> 1680 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
> Phone: (703) 838-6722   Fax: (703) 683-7590   E-mail: info@nsba.org