Calls for a Congressional Hearing After Tests Reveal Phone Radiation Levels 4-11 times over U.S. Approved Levels

From the Phonegate Press release online here.

In a joint letter dated 17 December 2019, Environmental Health Trust (EHT) and Phonegate Alert (AP) called on congressional leaders to end the failure of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to provide appropriate ways to test cellphones and to recall the millions of devices that French government and other independent assessments find emitting excessive levels of radiation.

“The FCC is failing in its regulatory duties to protect consumers and instead is setting policy to protect the cell phone manufacturers whose phones exceed the federal safety exposure guidelines by over 500% in some cases, simply when tested as consumers are using them: directly against the body in shirt and pants pockets and tucked into waistbands and bras,” stated Devra Davis PhD, MPH, President of EHT and Dr. Marc Arazi, President of AP in their letter to Senators Roger Wicker and Lamar Alexander, and Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Frank Pallone.

The letter included a report, “Background and facts documenting Phonegate,” detailing numerous serious shortcomings of the FCC.

“The FCC has knowingly relied on unrealistic test methods for years fully aware that radiation levels would violate FCC limits if phones were tested in body contact positions. The parallel assessments from the Chicago Tribune, the law firm of Fegan Scott, CBC Broadcasting, and the government of France leave no doubt phones would be illegal if they were tested the way we use them,” stated Davis, noting that several expert American scientists and doctors have called for Congressional hearings regarding the compelling results obtained through Phonegate Alert.

Call for a US Congressional Investigation

The letter is supported by President of Consumers for Safe Cell Phones, Cindy Franklin, and the California Brain Tumor Association, Ellen Marks, who join in demanding that investigations be launched to shed light on this widespread industrial deception and its consequences for the health of millions.

Cindy Franklin: “The U.S. Congress must not allow this public health deception to continue. Cell phones must be tested in the way they are used by consumers. Allowing separation distance is a gift to the cell phone industry, whose phones now have multiple transmitters that increasingly direct radiation deep into vulnerable reproductive organs – which is particularly alarming for pregnant women, children and young adults.” Ellen Marks: “It’s shocking that the industry is allowed to manipulate the testing system to make phones meet safety guidelines. It is essential that immediate action be taken to protect public health, as cell phones are used daily by the majority of the population for both private and business purposes.”

FCC Fails to Meet Regulatory Obligations

Recent FCC position papers show how the US telecom regulator does not make its decisions with the necessary neutrality with regard to public health issues.

Indeed, on March 21, 2018, together with our American partner, the Environmental Health Trust, Phonegate Alert wrote to the Chairman of the FCC, Mr. Ajit Pai, conveying results of the tests carried out on hundreds of mobile phones sold in Europe by the National Frequency Agency (ANFR) along with the recommendations of the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) originally published in July 2016.

The FCC never responded to us. Moreover, on December 4, 2019, the Agency concluded there was no scientific ground for changing its 2-decade old system for testing phone radiation.

The FCC is trying unsuccessfully to counter the Chicago Tribune’s revelations.

On December 10, 2019, the FCC issued a report intended to contradict the Chicago Tribune tests of phone radiation carried out by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sam Roe finding that some of the most popular mobile phones sold in the United States (Samsung, Apple, Motorola) had much higher levels of exposure for users than those announced by the manufacturers.

In fact, the Agency failed once more to inspect phone radiation in ways that people regularly used them, i.e., i.e. at 0mm or 2mm (as in a shirt or pants pocket or tucked into a sports bra).

In France, the regulator uses a documented procedure to sample the mobile phones tested in stores to independently ensure that the manufacturer cannot influence the test results of the accredited laboratories. However, the FCC has instead allowed 7 of the 11 smartphones tested, along with cables to be used for that testing, to be supplied by the phones’ own manufacturers.

Dr. Marc Arazi, who launched the alert in July 2016 and obtained the publication of test reports kept secret in France, rejects this recent FCC appraisal as irrelevant to ordinary use :