EHT Founder Says Wireless Industry Group’s Action Unjustified
JACKSON, WY — October 11, 2011 – Devra Davis, PhD, MPH, President of Environmental Health Trust, has debunked a lawsuit filed by the CTIA, a wireless industry group representing AT&T and Verizon among others, to prevent San Francisco’s “Right to Know” ordinance from taking effect on October 25. A hearing on the suit is set for October 20.
The cell phone disclosure law, the first of its kind in the U.S., requires retailers to display large, informational posters and hand out fact sheets explaining ways to reduce exposure to microwave radiation from cellphones. The CTIA disagrees with the ordinance, calling it “inaccurate, misleading, controversial, unnecessarily alarmist,” and saying it violates carriers’ First Amendment right to free speech.
Dr. Davis commented: “George Orwell must be writing the script for the CTIA! According to them, it’s against the First Amendment for phone sellers to have to tell you about safety risks BEFORE you buy a phone, what they in fact tell you AFTER you’ve spent your money. Fine-print warnings are provided in the packaging for cell phones, but are only AFTER you’ve paid for a phone. Tiny text tells you that iPhones cannot be kept safely in the pocket when turned on or they can release more radiation than the FCC allows. Meanwhile, Blackberry’s small print advises that pregnant women and teenagers avoid cell phone exposure to the abdomen. I guess the rights to life, liberty and happiness, do not include the right to know about cell phone radiation, until and unless you’ve spent money on a phone. As Stephen Colbert might say, ‘Truthiness is very expensive.’”
About Environmental Health Trust
Environmental Health Trust (EHT) educates individuals, health professionals and communities about controllable environmental health risks and policy changes needed to reduce those risks. Current multi-media projects include: local and national campaigns to ban smoking and asbestos; working with international physician and worker safety groups to warn about the risks of inappropriate use of diagnostic radiation and cell phones, promoting research and awareness of environmental causes of breast cancer, and building environmental wellness programs in Wyoming and Pennsylvania to address the environmental impacts of energy development, the built environment and radon. EHT was created with the goal of promoting health and preventing disease one person, one community and one nation at a time. Capitalizing on growing public interest in Dr. Devra Lee Davis’s three popular books, When Smoke Ran Like Water, a National Book Award Finalist, The Secret History of the War on Cancer, and Disconnect–The Truth about Cell Phone Radiation, What Industry Has Done to Hide It and How to Protect Your Family, as well as recent documentary films, the foundation’s website offers clear, science-based information to prevent environmentally based disease and promote health, for the general public, children, and health professionals. For more information about getting involved in the numerous special projects spearheaded by the EHT, please log on to www.ehtrust.org.
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