Criticism of New York Times Article on Cell Phone Radiation Safety

Letter submitted by Devra Davis PHD, MPH to the New York Times regarding its latest incorrect article on smartphone radiation

“Do I Need to Worry About Smartphone Radiation?” (11/14/23) gets it wrong. Hundreds of expert scientists have concluded that cell phone radiation carries serious health risks. There is no scientific consensus that phones are safe.

A growing body of peer-reviewed evidence links radiofrequency radiation (RFR) from cell phones and Wi-Fi to a broad range of harm. Even at levels compliant with current government limits, RFR can damage reproductive health, memory, behavior, and brain development. Published NIH animal studies found “clear evidence” of cancer and DNA damage.

Because their skulls are thinner and contain more fluid, children absorb RFR more deeply into their brains than adults. More than 20 countries recommend that children reduce cell phone radiation exposure. In the US, the American Academy of Pediatrics, California Department of Health, the New Hampshire Commission on 5G, and others have advised parents to reduce children’s exposure to wireless radiation.

There is no health agency with funded activities to study, test or control radiation from phones or the towers that connect them. While radiation from towers is much lower than from phones, long-term exposures are also associated with a range of negative impacts on human health and the environment.

New York Times Letter To Editor submitted by Theodora Scarato

Do I Need to Worry About Smartphone Radiation? (11/14/23) inaccurately states: “Health authorities like the FDA, CDC and WHO agree that there’s no evidence that smartphone radiation causes health problems.”

None of these agencies have completed an up to date health effects risk assessment. The FDA has no reports on Wi-Fi, 5G nor cell towers and only has an outdated well criticized literature review focused solely only on cell phones and cancer, rejecting the major cancer findings of a NIH study it had requested and omitting review of impacts to the immune system, brain and reproduction.

The WHO has not concluded “there is no evidence.” In 2011, the WHO/International Agency for Cancer classified cell phone radiofrequency radiation as possibly carcinogenic to humans, based on studies finding an increased risk for brain cancer. Evidence has increased.

The EPA was defunded just as it was poised to issue safety standards and, like the CDC (which hired an industry consultant to draft its webpages), has not made any safety determinations.

Try to find a recent scientific report by the WHO, FDA, CDC or EPA that concludes with an official opinion on safety. Good Luck. It simply does not exist.