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| Wireless Industry Kills Cell Phone Radiation Bill | |
| USA | Created: 22 Mar 2014 |
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After landslide votes in both the house (83-56 in favor) and senate (21-14 in favor) of LD 1013, The Wireless Information Act's historic passage was reversed, thanks to fast, furious and aggressive lobbying by the wireless industry, who filled the halls of the State House yesterday to ensure the bills failure to be enacted, which required a final vote in the House. In a 77 - 60 vote, the bill was reversed that morning. The wireless industry's influence on possible health notification risks of their products has haunted the bill's ability to pass from it's inception nearly 5 years ago. This year, Representative Barry Hobbins, former AT@T attorney, sat as House Chair of the Energy, Utility and Technology Committee, where the bill was heard. Rep. Hobbins is well known to favor of the industry's position. Despite Rep. Hobbins and attorney General Janet Mills efforts to quash the bill, it miraculously passed out of the committee with a 6-6 vote. "I think it's about money in politics," says Rep. Andrea Boland, author of the bill. Rep. Boland summarized as saying, "The issue was transparency and accountability. The industry fought to not let the public know what was in their manuals regarding RF radiation exposure. All manuals tell users to keep the phones at a distance from their heads and bodies but this industry won't say openly not to hold devices against head and body. The industry was arguing against transparency and accountability and scaring off the legislators who had formally voted for it. It is deceitful." Risk Management Magazine... "...manufacturers have been held liable where their warnings were deemed not conspicuous enough." Rep. Boland's own Democratic leadership worked against this bill. "Maybe they are really proud of their votes against transparency. They had proposed to kill the bill without taking a vote so that their votes would not become public record," says Rep. Boland. Below is the link to see who voted that way. A NO vote in this case is a vote in FAVOR allowing the bill to go to vote and a YES vote in this case would be a vote to hide their no votes from public record. http://www.mainelegislature.org/LawMakerWeb/rollcall.asp?ID=280047766&chamber=House&serialnumber=549 "These are the people who voted against letting the public know where to find information on reducing RF radiation exposure," says Rep. Boland. "We may have lost this battle, but we will win this war. We're winning in that we see who the people are that do not want transparency and how the political/money game works out against public health," says Rep. Boland. "We're building a future of greater disease and insuring the opportunity for far greater health problems, burgeoning medical costs and heartbreak in families when the brain tumors, Alzheimer's, vision problems, reproductive problems, other cancers and other illnesses that studies have been shown to be a risk and show up in otherwise healthy people." "With other countries like Belgium and soon France passing legislation to restrict children from buying cell phones or the wireless industry advertising to them, the fact that we are having so much difficulty even putting a mere warning to check the user manual for radiation exposure info, is indicative of the enormity of the industry influence and corrution here in the US, even in a little state like Maine," said Liz Barris, director of American Association for Cell Phone Safety. Contacts: Rep. Andrea Boland 207-324-4459 sixwings@metrocast.net Liz Barris 310-455-7530 contact@thepeoplesinitiative.org Related news: Mar 2014, USA: Maine Cell Phone Bill Passes Senate in Landslide Vote, 21 to 14 |
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| Source: AmericanAssociationForCellPhoneSafety.org, Rep.Andrea Boland & Liz Barris (via email), 21 Mar 2014 | |
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