NAP- Neighborhood Alliance of Pawtucket

Cell Phones and safety

Problems with radiation, RF and other facts

Did you know that a mobile phone user absorbs about a thousand times more absorbed RF energy from a cell phone than from a cell phone base station? Of course, the mobile phone and antenna transmissions are both very low and well below permitted levels. Virtually no one hesitates to allow children to use or be near a mobile phone, because we all understand that this is a highly regulated industry and that the government has determined that mobile phones are safe. Radio and television station antennae actually produce much higher RF emissions. There are many other sources of RF emissions that most people use routinely without any concern for safety, including microwave ovens, cordless telephones, pagers, and personal communication devices.

If you are interested in reviewing in more detail a thorough survey of the medical and technical literature, we recommend a comprehensive analysis by John E. Moulder, Ph.D., Professor of Radiation Oncology at the Medical
College of Wisconsin, entitled: “Mobile Phone (Cell Phone) Base Stations and Human Health.” (http://www.mcw.edu/gcrc/cop/cell-phone-health-FAQ/toc.html). He cites governmental reports, academic reviews, epidemiology and human studies, animal studies and cellular studies from numerous countries concluding that the clear consensus of the scientific community, both in the United States and internationally, is that the power from mobile phone base station antennae is far too low to produce health hazards. The RF energy safety guidelines adopted both in the U.S. and internationally includes a fifteen-fold safety margin below even potentially concerning levels and the actual amount of RF energy measured at base stations, including base stations located at schools in the U.K. and Canada, was considerably less than 1% of the permitted levels. Furthermore, the antennae will be mounted approximately 50 feet above ground level and directed out in a horizontal direction. This means that no one will be exposed to even the minimal, permissible level of RF energy emitting from the antennae. Measurements made at ground level below typical base station installations are thousands of times less than the FCC limits for safe exposure.

In addition, there are many government websites worth reviewing, including http://www.fcc.gov/oet/rfsafety.