QSan Francisco Passed Cell Phone Safety Legislation?
ASan Franciscos cell phone safety law, Right to Know, which is the first bill of its kind in the nation, provides warnings about cell phone radiation at point of sale. The ordinance was first passed in June 2010 by the Board of Supervisors who voted it in 10-1. The bill was signed into law by former mayor Gavin Newsom and was supposed to go into effect on September 1st, 2010.However, the warning was quickly repealed after the Cellular Telecommunications Industry (CTIA) filed a lawsuit against the city in the US District Court, arguing that the bill supposedly violates the industrys First Amendment rights to freedom of speech. The CTIA also pulled its multimillion dollar trade show from San Francisco as a result of the safety information law.After reworking the language of the bill, the Supervisors unanimously approved the reworded legislation, which requires businesses to provide information about cell phone radiation at the point of purchase. On July 11th, 2011, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee signed the amended bill into law.The CTIA has moved forward with their lawsuit against the city which will delayed safety legislation for at least a few more months. Please help spread the word around the Bay Area and beyond!
QWho made this documentary?
AAUTHOR/PRODUCER
Devra Davis, PhD, MPH is an epidemiologist and author whose career has spanned all areas of academia, public policy, and scientific research. While Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Services, she counseled leading officials in the United States, United Nations, European Environment Agency, World Health Organization, and World Bank. President Clinton appointed Davis to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, an independent executive branch agency that investigates, prevents, and mitigates chemical accidents, where she served from 199499. She also served as a Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the group awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with Al Gore. She has authored more than 190 publications in books and journals ranging from the Journal of the American Medical Association to Scientific American and the New York Times. Her book When Smoke Ran Like Water (2002) was a National Book Award Finalist. She is also the author of The Secret History of the War on Cancer, and Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation.DIRECTOR
Activist and award-winning filmmaker Kevin Kunze. In 2011, Kunze joined the Environmental Health Trust, a non-profit that educates individuals, health professionals and communities about controllable environmental health risks and policy changes needed to reduce those risks. Kunze's former film clients include: Google / Iridescent, NASA Ames / Singularity University, Microcinema International, Social Capital Films, and How-to Homestead.EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Ellie Marks, Director of the California Brain Tumor Association, entered into the cell phone and brain tumor world when her husband, Alan was diagnosed with a malignant glioma in 2008. Marks contacted experts worldwide who documented that Alans cell phone use contributed to his cancer. She testified to Congress and has made made national news on CNN with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Fox News with Shepard Smith, NBC, and Larry King Live. Marks advocates for safer cell phone legislation and was involved in San Franciscos successful cell phone bill Right to Know which she is now taking nationwide. She has been contacted by hundreds dying from brain cancer which they believe was attributed to their years of long term cell phone use against the same side of the head. She is currently the Director of Government and Public Affairs for the Environmental Health Trust.
QThe World Health Organization Said Cell Phones Possibly Cause Cancer?
ARadiation from cell phones can possibly cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) at a conference in Lyon, France. The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same "carcinogenic hazard" category as DDT, lead, engine exhaust, chloroform, and several hundred pesticides.The conclusion of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) was primarily based on the Interphone study, the largest global cell phone study, which was conducted in over 13 countries (not including the United States). IARC found an increased risk for glioma, a form of brain cancer, in people who used a cell phone for only 30 minutes per day for over 10 years. According to the study those who used the cell phone for at least 1,640 hours had the highest risk for tumors on the same side of the head that they would use to make calls.The data from the Interphone study has been available since 2006. However, it has taken researchers nearly half a decade before informing the public that cancer risk from cell phones is possible. The reason for the delay has been attributed to disagreements amongst the researchers involved in the study. Furthermore, numerous doctors have criticised the study for down playing the risk by examining users who were not very active on their phone. For instance, according to the study, a regular cell phone user was defined as anyone who made only one call a week.Several mainstream news organizations have diluted the WHO warning by pin-pointing two unusual items on the list of over two hundred; coffee and pickled vegetables. The purpose of the comparison would be to down play the risk and provoke a response that the WHO, an evidence-based global authority on epidemiology, is an over protective agency. An assertion that couldnt be further from the truth as their long history and accuracy records over the past 60 years have proven.
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