Paul Ben Ishai, a member of EHT’s scientific advisory board and a senior lecturer at Ariel University’s Department of Physics in Israel, penned a piece on several lawsuits around the globe citing hazards and damages caused by cell phone use. He specifically notes the current case brought by EHT et al. vs. the FCC, in which the plaintiffs are demanding that the federal government look at the scientific evidence before extending its current regulations on exposure.
Current FCC limits are restricted to thermal effects. Since the law was promulgated in 1996, thousands of studies on nonthermal effects have demonstrated the biological and environmental implications of radiofrequency radiation exposure, which the FCC has clearly ignored.
Ishai writes:
Despite the lackluster display of legal prowess displayed by the FCC legal team, one cannot underestimate such a powerful authority, or the lobbying power wielded by the Cellphone industry in the US. In a patently unfair state of affairs, the FCC draws on the deep pockets of the US treasury while the plaintiffs, in this case, must rely on their own meager resources. Clearly, if the FCC were doing its job of regulation based on science, there would be no need for the concerned citizen to risk his pocket! What is especially galling is the plaintiffs actually fund the FCC by their taxes. They indirectly pay both ends of the ticket!
International Cases on Cell Phone Safety
Ben Ishai describes the state of the fight in Italy, the United Kingdom, Australia, Turkey, and notes the recent case that Environmental Health Trust has joined against the Tahoe Regional Planning Authority. These plaintiffs are asking the federal court to insist that the defendants undertake the rigorous environmental reviews required by law before installing 5G cell towers in the pristine wilderness around Lake Tahoe.
He concludes that in nations where lawsuits are succeeding, the plaintiffs are not relying on the International Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), the captured international agency that provides cover for nations to accept telecom industry demands to use people “as guinea pigs in a giant experiment of public health.”
He said courts that rely on science over flaccid regulatory agencies provide much clearer and up-to-date protections.
The important point of all of this is that if the regulator in various countries refuses to accept any notion of non-thermal effects and damage, the court system is not so blithe in its attitude.The scientific evidence is beginning to pile up and one leg of the three-tiered system that makes a democracy, the judiciary, is taking note. Long live the Law!
Read The Times of Israel article.
More Articles About International Actions on Cell Phone Safety
