Select Page

“High Probability” that Cell Phone Radiation Causes Brain Tumors Says 32 Year US Government Scientist – CDC and National Toxicology Program- in Expert Report to Court 

 

Christopher Portier PhD, a longtime US government scientist now retired,  submitted a comprehensive review of the scientific research in a major cell phone/brain cancer lawsuit  where he concludes that “The evidence on an association between cellular phone use and the risk of glioma in adults is quite strong” and “In my opinion, RF exposure probably causes gliomas and neuromas and, given the human, animal and experimental evidence, I assert that, to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, the probability that RF exposure causes gliomas and neuromas is high.”

 

The 176-page expert report with 443 references was prepared for the plaintiffs in a major product liability lawsuit, Murray et al. v Motorola, Inc. et al., filed in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia against the telecommunications industry. The plaintiffs in the case are suing the telecommunications industry for damages because they developed brain cancer after years of using a cell phone up to their head. Most of the plaintiffs have passed away. Court dates are set for Murray et al. v. Motorola July 12-23, 2021.

As expected, the 46 Telecom defendants in the case which include Motorola, Nokia, AT&T, Bell Atlantic, Cellular One, Cingular Wireless, Verizon and Vodafone are calling to remove Dr. Portier’s report and testimony from the case.

Christopher Portier PhD Directed Programs at the US Centers for Disease Control

Chris Portier PhD was the Director of the United States National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the Director of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Prior to CDC, Dr. Portier was with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for 32 years where he served as the NIEHS Associate Director, Director of the Environmental Toxicology Program, and Associate Director of the National Toxicology Program. 

Dr. Portier holds a Ph.D. in Biostatistics (with a minor in Epidemiology). For over three decades, Dr. Portier has held prominent leadership positions in the U.S. government that combined the disciplines of toxicology, statistics and epidemiology.

In 2011, Dr. Portier was selected to represent the CDC on an expert working group convened by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization to review the carcinogenicity of wireless radiofrequency radiation. 
The working group met for two weeks and ultimately decided to determine that RF radiation was  “possibly carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2B). In 2015 during the BIOEM Conference Portier officially called for invoking the precautionary principle. Since 2011, the published research in both humans and animals linking wireless radiation to cancer and tumors has substantially increased as Dr. Portier documents in his research review. 
Portier attempted to have the CDC update their webpage with the IARC classification in 2011. However, after he left the CDC,  EHT’s FOIA investigations found, the CDC webpage was redrafted numerous times to include the 2011 classification and finally posted in a watered down wording three years later. Then in 2016, the CDC flip-flopped on recommending people take “caution” with cell phone radiation and removed advice about children. As of 2021, the WHO/IARC advisory committee recommends re-evaluating wireless radiation “as a high priority.”

Numerous other WHO/IARC experts have more recently stated that the 2011 classification needs to be strengthened as recent research continues to show a link between wireless exposure and cancer. Read their statements here. 

 

Selected quotes from Dr. Portier’s Expert Report to the Court 

  • “In conclusion, an association has been established between the use of cellular telephones and the risk of gliomas and chance, bias and confounding are unlikely to have driven this finding.”  
  • “The evidence on an association between cellular phone use and the risk of acoustic neuromas [ANs] in adults is strong.” 
  • “The central question to ask of animal cancer studies is “Can RF increase the incidence of tumors in laboratory animals?” The answer, with high confidence, is yes.” 
  • “There is sufficient evidence to suggest that both oxidative stress and genotoxicity are caused by exposure to RF and that these mechanisms could be the reason why RF can induce cancer in humans.”
  • “RF exposure probably causes gliomas and acoustic neuromas, and given the human, animal and experimental evidence, I assert that, to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, the probability that RF exposure causes these cancers is high.”
  • In conclusion, there is sufficient evidence from these laboratory studies to conclude that RF can cause tumors in experimental animals with strong findings for gliomas, heart Schwannomas and adrenal pheochromocytomas in male rats and harderian gland tumors in male mice and uterine polyps in female mice. There is also some evidence supporting liver tumors and lung tumors in male and possibly female mice.”
  •  “In my opinion, RF exposure probably causes gliomas and neuromas and, given the human, animal and experimental evidence, I assert that, to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, the probability that RF exposure causes gliomas and neuromas is high.”

Download the Report by Dr. Portier HERE. 

Several Published Reviews have Concluded that Wireless Radiation is a Human Carcinogen. 

Published papers by Dr. Lennart Hardells team and scientists of the Environmental Health Trust have long concluded that the current scientific evidence strengthens and supports an upgraded classification that RFR should now be categorized as carcinogenic to humans (IARC Group 1).

Hardell and Carlberg  published  expert commentary on the US National Toxicology Program study on rats and mice. They conclude in their paper “that there is clear evidence that RF radiation is a human carcinogen, causing glioma and vestibular schwannoma (acoustic neuroma).” The paper additionally considers other cancer endpoints. For example, in regards to the rising increase in incidence of thyroid cancer, the authors state that “there is some evidence that thyroid cancer is caused by RF radiation in humans. The authors conclude that there is “clear evidence that RF radiation is a multi‑site carcinogen. Based on the Preamble to the IARC Monographs, RF radiation should be classified as carcinogenic to humans, Group 1.”

“Our conclusion on RF radiation carcinogenicity is the following based on human epidemiology and supported by animal results in the NTP reports: Glioma, clear evidence; meningioma, equivocal evidence; vestibular schwannoma (acoustic neuroma), clear evidence; pituitary tumor (adenoma), equivocal evidence; thyroid cancer, some evidence; malignant lymphoma, equivocal evidence; skin (cutaneous tissue), equivocal evidence; multi‑site carcinogen, clear evidence.”– Hardell and Carlberg  Commentary on the National Toxicology Program Final Reports on Radiofrequency Cell Phone Radiation Study

“With the epidemiological studies of humans over many years and the recent findings of the US National Toxicology Program and Ramazzini Institute animal studies, we now have enough evidence to classify Radiofrequency Radiation as carcinogenic to humans. Thus it is critical that governments take action to reduce human exposure to Radiofrequency Radiation, and halt the introduction of 5G networks,” stated  Anthony B. Miller MD of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto and Senior Advisor to Environmental Health Trust regarding the 2018 review concluding wireless is a human carcinogen. 

“Researchers are pointing to microwave radio-frequency radiation as causing illness in US Embassy staff,“ stated Dr. Devra Davis, co-author of the paper and President of the Environmental Health Trust referring to the New York Times coverage of a new paper  by University of California San Diego medical researcher Dr. Beatrice Golomb and research on microwave hearing by scientist Allen Frey. “Cell phones and wireless expose us to microwave radiation every day.  If targeted microwave radiation can damage diplomats then what will daily exposure to wireless radiation do to our children and us? Before we blanket our nation with 5G, yet another layer of microwave radiation, we must critically examine its impact on our health and environment.”

“The CDC  released new research that found increases in brain, liver and thyroid cancer among those under 20 years old in the United States. The time for meaningful policy change is now. We must raise this issue at every level of government and reduce radiofrequency exposure in our communities -especially for our children,” stated Theodora Scarato, Executive Director of Environmental Health Trust. “Outdated government regulations need to catch up with current science.”

Dr. Christopher Portier has Provided Expert Testimony Regarding Glyphosate

Dr. Christopher Portier testified as an expert witness for the plaintiff in the case of Edwin Hardeman v. Monsanto Company (now Bayer). The Hardeman trial began on February 25, 2019 and ended with a unanimous verdict of $80M for Mr. Hardeman on March 27, 2019.

Watch Dr. Portier testify in the Monsanto case. 

Watch Dr. Portier testify on glyphosate to the European Union below