In response to the Oregon Report on Health Effects of Wireless Radiation, senior scientists from the United States and around the world including Dr. Linda Birnbaum, former Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Toxicology Program signed onto a letter sent to Oregon Governor Kate Brown, the State Legislature and OHA’s leadership calling for immediate retraction of the OHA report on the health risks of wireless due to its flaws, inconsistencies and lack of science-based conclusions. The numerous inadequacies and lack of science-based conclusions have been documented in a 100 page report by Environmental Health Trust also referenced in the scientists’ letter.
The scientific letter states, “The report would not pass peer review as it omitted animal and cellular studies and thus it does not provide a comprehensive or systematic review of the relevant literature….The failure of Oregon Health Authority to utilize in their review the significant body of evidence showing harm to animals from wireless radiation exposure is contrary to public health principles and OHA’s own established protocols of using animal studies in many other reviews. By omitting key peer reviewed scientific evidence of adverse effects and downplaying the scientific studies showing impacts to memory and the brain, the OHA review does not comport with the Agency’s mission of protecting and promoting public health.”
Experts Signing Letter Calling for the Oregon Authority to Retract Health Effects of Wireless Report
Scientists, medical doctors and experts signing onto the letter include Linda S. Birnbaum, Ph.D., former Director National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Toxicology Program and Scholar in Residence; Duke University; Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD of theThe Environment and Cancer Research Foundation, Sweden; Devra Davis, PhD MPH of Environmental Health Trust; Anthony B. Miller, MD, Professor Emeritus Dalla Lana School of Public Health University of Toronto and former Chairman, Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics, University of Toronto and former Director, Epidemiology Unit, National Cancer Institute of Canada, Toronto; Meg Sears, PhD, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute Chair, Prevent Cancer Now, Canada: David O. Carpenter, MD, Director, Institute for Health and the Environment, a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization, University at Albany, New York; Franz Adlkofer, MD Chairman Pandora-Foundation for Independent Research Germany; Colin L. Soskolne, PhD, Professor emeritus University of Alberta, Canada; Theodora Scarato MSW Executive Director, Environmental Health Trust; Lloyd Morgan of Environmental Health Trust and Board of Directors, Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States: Dr. Paul Dart, Oregon Health & Science University; Don Maisch PhD of the Oceania Radiofrequency Scientific Advisory Association; Theodore P. Metsis PhD, Electrical, Environmental Engineer, Greece; Igor Belyaev, Dr.Sc.Head, Department of Radiobiology Cancer Research Institute, Slovak Republic; Denis L. Henshaw BSc PhD, University of Bristol; Alvaro Augusto de Salles Ph.D, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, P. Alegre, Brazil; Claudio Fernández Rodríguez, Associate professor Federal Institute of Technology of Rio Grande do Sul, IFRS, Brazil; Paul Héroux, PhD, McGill University Medicine, Department of Surgery, McGill University Health Center; Tom Butler PhD MSc, University College Cork, Ireland; Victor Leach MSc founding Member of the Australasian Radiation Protection Society and Oceania Radiofrequency Scientific Advisory Association Inc.
Download PDF of letter to Oregon Governor Brown
May 25, 2021
Office of the Governor
900 Court Street NE
Salem, OR 97301-4047
CC: Patrick Allen, Director OHA
Rachael Banks – Public Health Director OHA
Angela Albee – Legislative Coordinator OHA
Speaker of the House – Representative Tina Kotek
Senate President – Senator Peter Courtney
Chair House Committee on Education – Representative Margaret Doherty
Chair Senate Committee on Education – Senator Michael Dembrow
Re: Scientists and Public Health Experts Request a Retraction of the Flawed Oregon Public Health Authority Review on Wireless Radiation and Children’s Health
Dear Governor Brown, Oregon Health Authority and State Legislative Leadership,
As experts in public health and bioelectromagnetics having authored more than 1000 scientific publications, we are calling for a retraction of the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) 2020 report “Wireless technology health risks report; Senate Bill 283”. The report would not pass peer review as it omitted animal and cellular studies and thus it does not provide a comprehensive or systematic review of the relevant literature. Accordingly, it does not comply with SB 283 (2019) which called for an investigation into the health effects of exposure to wireless radiofrequency radiation (RFR) to children, especially in the school setting, using independently funded peer reviewed scientific studies.
Three principal types of evidence are relevant to evaluating the impact of wireless radiation on children: 1) exposure modeling; 2) toxicological evaluations under controlled conditions; and 3) human studies. By excluding both modeling studies and experimental studies, the final OHA report represents a narrow and highly skewed review of the literature. Indeed, shortcomings discussed in the OHA 2020 report are precisely why observational human studies must be complemented with experimental studies that are more tightly controlled. Further, despite SB283’s stated intention to include “independently funded” studies, the final report includes and highlights industry-funded studies that have been rejected by the scientific community for their flawed methods.
The National Academy of Sciences, World Health Organization and U.S. public health agencies have a long tradition of relying on animal toxicology/carcinogenicity studies to identify hazardous agents and assess health risks in order to implement public health protective policies to prevent human harm.
Using methods that have been consistently approved and adopted by federal agencies for more than four decades, at the request of the Food and Drug Administration, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) carried out one of the largest, most comprehensive animal studies of the carcinogenicity of radiofrequency radiation. The NTP study found “clear evidence” of cancer as well as DNA damage in multiple organs. In addition, experimental studies from the distinguished Ramazzini Institute in Italy, found the same relatively rare tumor type using far lower radiation exposures, that are comparable to levels experienced from cell towers and base stations. Human epidemiology studies that examined long term exposures found associations with tumors that are of the same cell types found in the NTP and Ramazzini studies. Yale animal studies linked prenatal cellphone radiation exposure to impaired memory and hyperactivity in offspring, adding to a growing body of published research confirming adverse impacts to behavior and brain development in the developing young brain.
The OHA report omitted research characterizing the complex RFR exposures in the school setting. Children are exposed to radiofrequency radiation in school classrooms from multiple sources including cell phones, Wi-Fi routers, wireless laptops, tablets, virtual reality systems, wearable technology and nearby cell towers. OHA took no action to gather measurement data on actual RFR exposure in Oregon schools. Nor did they gather data on the number of students, teachers and staff that have asked for accommodations through the Americans for Disabilities Act (ADA) due to experiencing the debilitating symptoms from RFR exposure in schools. OHA omitted all research on this serious emerging public health issue called electromagnetic sensitivity (EMS) that is being reported in alarming numbers by students and staff in public schools across the U.S.
This report fails to acknowledge official actions by governments in France, South Korea, Belgium, Cyprus, the European Parliament and recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics, California Department of Public Health, New Hampshire State 5G Commission and Maryland Commission on Children’s Environmental Health that have issued specific advice about why and how to reduce children’s exposures to wireless radiofrequency radiation.
As an example of the deficiencies in the report, the OHA Report “Methods” section describes the RFR emissions of interest in terms of frequencies. The report states inaccurately, “relevant RFR emissions [are] in the frequency range of cell phones and Wi-Fi, or approximately between 1.6 gigaHertz (GHz) and 30 GHz.” In contrast, the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization examined frequencies of 30 kHz to 300 GHz in their investigation of carcinogenicity of RFR. Modern technologies use many frequencies, including RF radiation of 700 megaHertz (MHz) and lower. It is hard to have confidence in a study that misidentifies the basic parameter under investigation (albeit lower frequencies are noted among results). Indeed, the methods section did not even include the legislative directive to specifically consider “independently funded” studies, as an important criterion due to the research indicating sponsorship can impact results.
Contrary to what the OHA report asserts, OHA’s conclusions are not “in line” with other US federal agencies. The Centers for Disease Control, National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health do not make safety determinations regarding wireless radiation and contrary to what OHA seems to imply, these agencies have not undertaken any systematic review to make such a determination. In fact, the US does not have federally developed RFR safety standards. Despite the fact that wireless devices are now commonly used by babies, toddlers and teenagers, there has been no evaluation of the full body of scientific evidence by any US health or environmental agency for the last three decades.
The failure of Oregon Health Authority to utilize in their review the significant body of evidence showing harm to animals from wireless radiation exposure is contrary to public health principles and OHA’s own established protocols of using animal studies in many other reviews. By omitting key peer reviewed scientific evidence of adverse effects and downplaying the scientific studies showing impacts to memory and the brain, the OHA review does not comport with the Agency’s mission of protecting and promoting public health.
Best practice recommendations for systematic reviews on human health risks posed by environmental exposures were not implemented in the OHA review. OHA did not define the objectives of the evaluation nor identify the key questions to be addressed. If the objective of the review was to determine if radiofrequency was hazardous, then the scope of the review should have included multiple evidence streams. OHA presented no scientific explanation why the scope of the research review omitted animal studies and in vitro studies. OHA did not GRADE, rate or weigh the evidence. OHA did not conclude by classifying RFR into hazard identification conclusion categories according to key questions, but merely concluded with a summary statement.
A scientifically defensible investigation into the harmful effects of an environmental agent such as radiofrequency radiation (RFR) by a public health agency should have included the following:
- Adherence to good practice recommendations for systematic review methodology, including the publication and consultation of scope and review protocols.
- Inclusion of animal and in-vitro research on RFR, according to key questions under review.
- Reference to the classification of radiofrequency radiation as a Class 2B Carcinogen by the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2011 and the 2019 WHO advisory group recommendations that RFR associated with wireless technology be re-evaluated due to the recent animal and human studies finding associations with cancer.
- Research on children’s unique vulnerability to RFR due to their relative size, proportionately higher brain exposures and developing brains.
- The inclusion of recent research such as studies associating RFR with breast cancer and thyroid cancer.
- Research characterizing school exposures to the multitude of RFR sources students are exposed to in the classroom, including Wi-Fi routers, wireless devices, cell phones and cell towers.
Environmental Health Trust has documented these shortcomings as well as numerous additional issues and inaccuracies in an attached report also online here.
The lack of transparency and rigor in the development of the scope, flawed methodology and analysis as well as the numerous omissions and inaccuracies cast serious doubt on the validity of the review. These faults and omissions, in our view, warrant the retraction of the report.
Respectfully,
Devra Davis, PhD MPH
President and Founder
Environmental Health Trust
Visiting Professor of Medicine
The Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical Center
Associate Editor, Frontiers in Radiation and Health
Anthony B. Miller, MD, FACE
Professor Emeritus Dalla Lana School of Public Health
University of Toronto
Advisor to the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer EMF Working Group; Former Chairman, Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics, University of Toronto and former Director, Epidemiology Unit, National Cancer Institute of Canada, Toronto.
Linda S. Birnbaum, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., A.T.S.
Scientist Emeritus and Former Director
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Toxicology Program
Scholar in Residence, Duke University
Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD
Fellow Collegium Ramazzini
Professor, Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden (retired)
The Environment and Cancer Research Foundation, Studievägen 35, SE-702 17, Örebro, Sweden
Meg Sears, PhD
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Chair, Prevent Cancer Now
Canada
David O. Carpenter, MD
Director, Institute for Health and the Environment
A Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization
University at Albany, New York
Franz Adlkofer, MD
Chairman Pandora-Foundation for Independent Research
Germany
Colin L. Soskolne, PhD (Epidemiology)
Professor emeritus
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Theodora Scarato MSW
Executive Director, Environmental Health Trust
Lloyd Morgan
Senior Research Fellow
Environmental Health Trust
Board of Directors, Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States
Eugene, Oregon
Neuromuscular Medicine
Oregon Health & Science University Graduated with honors from Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in 1984
Don Maisch PhD
Dr. Don Maisch has been directly involved in standard setting specific to possible health effects from exposure to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) since1993. He has served on the Standards Australia committee for telecommunications EMR exposure standards and was a consultative committee member for a revised Australian government powerline exposure standard (now concluded). In 2010 he received his PhD from the University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia for his thesis on conflict of interest and bias in telecommunications standard setting. He is a member of the Oceania Radiofrequency Scientific Advisory Association and the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine and has published a number of papers on the biological impacts of EMR exposure. HIs papers and thesis are available at https://www.emfacts.com/papers/
Dr. Theodore P. Metsis
Dipl.Eng., M.Sc.(Eng.), Ph.D.
Member of European Bioelectromagnetics Association
Mechanical, Electrical, Environmental Engineer, Electrosmog Specialist
Athens, Greece
Igor Belyaev, Dr.Sc.
Associate Professor
Head, Department of Radiobiology
Cancer Research Institute, BMC SAS
Block A (3.21)
Dubravska cesta 9
845 05 Bratislava
Slovak Republic
Igor.Beliaev@savba.sk
Tel: +421 2 32295119
http://www.biomedcentrum.sav.sk/research-departments/department-of-radiobiology/?lang=en
Denis L. Henshaw BSc PhD
Fellow Collegium Ramazzini
Emeritus Professor of Human Radiation Effects
Atmospheric Chemistry Group
School of Chemistry
University of Bristol
Cantocks Close,
Bristol, BS8 1TS, UK
Alvaro Augusto de Salles Ph.D, Professor,
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, P. Alegre, Brazil.
Claudio Fernández Rodríguez
Associate professor
Federal Institute of Technology of Rio Grande do Sul, IFRS,
Brazil
Paul Héroux, PhD
Professor of Toxicology and Health Effects of Electromagnetism
McGill University Medicine
Department of Surgery, McGill University Health Center
InVitroPlus Laboratory, Tel. (514) 398-6988
http://www.invitroplus.mcgill.ca/
Professor Tom Butler PhD MSc
University College Cork,
Ireland
Victor Leach MSc (Melb) FRMIT
Applied Physics (Radiation Health Physicist)
Founding Member of the Australasian Radiation Protection Society (ARPS) and Oceania Radiofrequency Scientific Advisory Association Inc. (ORSAA) orsaa.org
Download PDF of letter to Oregon Governor Brown
