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White House and Pentagon to get protective infrasound "overcoat"
USA Created: 2 Dec 2005
White House and Pentagon to get protective infrasound "overcoat"

Well-placed sources in Washington report that the U.S. Budget for 2006 will contain outlays of some USD 4,200 million for the protection of the nation's important strategic sites with infrasound fields.
The decision on infrasound protection was taken after the successful quelling of the Los Angeles AIDS riots during the summer.
L.A. police riot squads used portable infrasound generators on the rioters and looters, and brought the disturbance to a relatively peaceful end within
an hour. On the strength of these field-trials, such key sites as the White House complex, the Pentagon, the most important foreign legations, and the UN Headquarters in New York will all be equipped with a chain of generators.
Infrasound is known as a very powerful stunning and paralysing agent, and carries the added advantage of not being lethal in use.
The principle is based on very low sounds at frequencies well below the 20 hertz threshold of normal human hearing.
At high volumes, however, these sound waves cause the hearer to lose all sense of time and place, and also provoke intense nausea.
If the intensity of sound is sufficient, any person struck by the infrasound waves also loses control of his bowels, and will become completely incontinent. After the recent incident in Los Angeles, which was suffering a heatwave at the time, the L.A. Police Department noted that the device
was extremely effective in operation, but that the stench left behind was enough to turn one's stomach.
The aim in shielding important strategic buildings with an infrasound "overcoat" is to prevent - without bloodshed - possible attacks by terrorist
groups or crowds of rioters.
The United States Army began the development of battlefield infrasound equipment some ten years ago, and reportedly infrasound was also tested
in the seige of the headquarters of the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas in 1993. Installation of the first generator networks around buildings in
the capital and New York is expected to get under way next spring.
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Ericsson and Nokia loose a High Court case in USA – Class action ahead?
USA Created: 1 Nov 2005
Ericsson and Nokia loose a High Court case in USA – Class action ahead?

The Mobile telephone manufactures did not succeed with their Stop-proposal at the American High Court.
The Mobile phone manufacturers wanted to put a stop for consumers being able to take out court summons
Against them related to health risk from radiation from mobile phones, according to Bloomberg news.

The manufacturers behind the proposal were, between others, Nokia, Motorola and Ericsson.

The High Court decision opens up for a class action against the mobile phone manufacturers, to go ahead.

A group of consumers in Louisiana demands that every mobile phone user be given a headset to lower the radiation.

Analysts tells Bloomberg news that the decision can open up for mass actions, by people who have contracted cancer, running into multimillions against the mobile phone manufacturers.
Translated from Swedish by
Agnes.
www.mast-victims.org
Click here to view the source article.
Source: Nyhetsbyrån Direkt 2005-11-01 05:28

Ericsson och Nokia förlorade i USA – masstämning väntar?
USA Created: 1 Nov 2005
Ericsson och Nokia förlorade i USA – masstämning väntar?

Mobiltelefontillverkarna fick inte igenom sitt stoppförslag i den amerikanska högsta domstolen. Tillverkarna ville stoppa stämningar från konsumenter relaterade till sjukdomsrisk från strålning från mobiltelefoner, enligt Bloomberg News.
Bland tillverkarna som stod bakom förslaget märktes bland annat Nokia, Motorola och Ericsson.

Högsta domstolens beslut öppnar för en masstämning, en så kallad class action, mot mobiltelefontillverkarna att gå vidare. En grupp konsumenter i Louisiana kräver att varje användare ska tillhandahållas ett headset för att minska strålningen.

Analytiker uppger till Bloomberg News att beslutet kan öppna för mass stämningar i mångmiljon klassen mot mobiltelefontillverkarna från människor som drabbats av cancer.
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Source: Nyhetsbyrån Direkt 2005-11-01 05:28

Cell Phones and Your Health: The Radiation Question
USA Created: 27 Oct 2005
The Sun-Sentinel, a major Florida newspaper, is featuring a series of stories on “Cell Phones & Your Health: The Radiation Question”.

(click link below to view articles)
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Source: sun-sentinel.com

Vergoeding werknemer voor schade door mobiele telefonie
USA Created: 24 Oct 2005
Vergoeding werknemer voor schade door mobiele telefonie

Voor het eerst wereldwijd heeft een werknemer een schadevergoeding ontvangen voor gezondheidsschade door de straling van mobiele telefonie.
Het gaat om 30.000 dollar voor medische uitgaven, toegekend aan een medewerker van een leverancier van mobiele telefoons in Californië,
Verenigde Staten. Zij kreeg een hersentumor en verloor daardoor zowel haar werk als haar ziektenkostenverzekering.
Een wetenschappelijk expert verklaarde dat het meer waarschijnlijk was dat haar hersentumor wel degelijk door de straling van mobiele telefonie was veroorzaakt, dan niet.
Daarop kende de rechter haar een vergoeding toe voor de medische uitgaven.

"Het ging om een 'worker's compensation', een uitkering voor werknemers die stellen dat hun ziekte door het werk is veroorzaakt", aldus Nachman
Brautbar. Hij is toxicoloog, medisch expert, praktiserend specialist en hoogleraar aan de medische faculteit van de University of Southern California (USC) in
Los Angeles. "Ik heb me gebaseerd op publicaties van Olle Johansson, Lennart Hardell, Eli Richter en George Carlo.
De laatste heeft gewerkt voor Motorola en het boek geschreven 'The invisible hazards in the wireless age'. Ik heb hun data gebruikt en gesteld, dat het meer
waarschijnlijk was dat de straling de oorzaak was van de hersentumor, dan niet. Het hoeft niet de enige oorzaak te zijn, want in de toxicologie geldt, dat de oorzaak een keten van gebeurtenissen is.
Dat geldt wereldwijd, deze definitie van oorzaak wordt gegeven door het 'Textbook of modern epidemology' door Rothmann."

Centrum voor Beroepsziekten

Nachman Brautbar wist nog niet dat Sharesa Price de vergoeding daadwerkelijk uitgekeerd heeft gekregen.
"Uiteraard is dit controversieel.
Er zijn andere wetenschappers die tot andere conclusies komen.
Maar deze uitspraak kan een precedent scheppen, als het gaat om arbeidsomstandigheden. Dit is slechts een begin", aldus Brautbar.
In Nederland reageert Marie-José Sengers van het Bureau
Beroepsziekten van de vakbond FNV gereserveerd.
"Er is in Nederland pas sprake van een beroepsziekte als de zorgplicht van de werkgever is geschonden.
Bovendien moet in Nederland de medische causaliteit worden aangetoond.
Er hebben zich wel enkele mensen gemeld met hersentumoren, die in hun werk aan straling zijn blootgesteld. Jawel, er zijn ook mensen met gevoeligheid voor
straling. Maar we doen er niets mee, geven het niet door aan bijvoorbeeld het Nederlands Centrum voor Beroepsziekten. We kunnen er niet veel mee,
misschien in een verre toekomst. We doen er pas wat mee als er richtlijnen zijn."

SAR-waarden te hoog

Richtlijnen ontbreken niet alleen in Nederland, maar wereldwijd.
De ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection), World Health Organization (WHO) en Gezondheidsraad adviseren slechts
blootstellingslimieten om te voorkomen dat mensen worden verhit zoals in een magnetron. Voor de andere effecten bestaan geen regels. In de praktijk
heeft de radiofrequente straling echter wel degelijk gevolgen voor werknemers. Sharesa Price werkte bij Advanced Communication Systems.
"Ik ben een zaak begonnen tegen mijn werkgever.
Motorola en de providers van mobiele telefonie wisten ervan. Ik programmeerde telefoons voor klanten, zoals dokters, brandweer, politie en beveiliging. De telefoons waar ik destijds mee werkte zijn nu niet meer verkrijgbaar.
Maar de SAR-waarde van 2 Watt per kilogram is nog steeds te hoog. Als je daarmee belt, vraag je om problemen.
Motorola heeft wel iets gewijzigd aan de telefoons.
Ze zijn kleiner en de plek van de antenne is veranderd", aldus Price.

Gevolgen voor de gezondheid

Mobiele telefoons zijn een goed idee, maar de straling heeft gevolgen voor de gezondheid. "Ik heb gelukkig geluisterd naar de medici", zegt Sharesa
Price. "Je zult mij niet meer tegenkomen met een mobiele telefoon aan mijn hoofd.
Het kankergezwel is verwijderd en ik ben nu gezond.
Wat is gebleven groeit niet meer. De schadevergoeding die ik heb gekregen is genoeg om de rekeningen te kunnen betalen.
Brautbar is een buitengewoon deskundig man.
" Price is een autochtone Amerikaanse alleenstaande moeder van twee kinderen.
Ze kon een beroep doen op een speciale regeling voor autochtonen.
Haar voormalige werkgever, Dave Bohlen, stelt dat er niets mis is met zijn bedrijf. "Hier gebeurt hier niets wat schade kan veroorzaken", aldus Bohlen.
Volgens Price liggen de zaken anders.
Zij nam contact op met Carl Hilliard, een advocaat van de Wireless Consumers Alliance in California.
Hij bracht de zaak voor de rechter en stelde Brautbar voor als expert-deskundige.

Toxicologie

"Het gaat mij niet om het geld, het is een kwestie van gezondheid en veiligheid", zegt Sharesa Price.
Zij vertelt aan studenten en scholieren wat haar is overkomen en dringt aan op beperking van de straling door mobiele telefoons.
"Zij moeten begrijpen dat het nodig is om voorzichtig om te gaan met mobiele telefoons, net zoals het nodig is om condooms te gebruiken.
Het product is niet veilig zonder voorzorgsmaatregelen." Price overleefde de chirurgische verwijdering van het kankergezwel.
Het was moeilijk om aan een advocaat te komen, totdat zij Carl Hilliard ontmoette.
Hij streed tegen mobiele providers vanwege problemen met de kwaliteit en kosten van de dienstverlening.
Hilliard voerde Nachman Brautbar aan als
getuige-deskundige. Brautbar heeft reeds veel zaken gewonnen, zoals de toxicologie van chroom en lood. Hij noemt de zaak van Price nog niet op zijn website, maar was positief verrast dat de Amerikaanse alleeenstaande moeder haar zaak heeft gewonnen.

-----------------
Bronnen:

telefoongesprekken met Nachman Brautbar, Sharesa Price, het bureau van advocaat Carl Hilliard, journaliste Nancy McVicar (Health Writer of Sun
Sentinel) en Marie-José Sengers van het bureau beroepsziekten van de FNV.

Nancy McVicar is te bereiken via e-mail: nmvicar@sun-sentinel.com Carl Hilliard is te bereiken via e-mail: carl@wirelessconsumers.org

Den Haag, 23 oktober 2005 -
Informatie over dit persartikel: Frans van Velden, fransp@dds.nl ++ 31 70 3820525
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Source: Informatie over dit persartikel: Frans van Velden, fransp@dds.nl.. ++ 31 70 3820525

Officials at odds over the long-term effects of cell phone use
USA Created: 19 Oct 2005
Officials at odds over the long-term effects of cell phone use

Cell phones now come in child-sized versions, some in pink for girls, some with cartoon themes designed to appeal to boys and girls alike.

But before you buy a wireless phone for your child's next birthday, you should know that government agencies and expert panels in several European
countries have cautioned against routine use of the phones by children because of health questions raised by recent studies.

Some experts say research conducted during the past decade indicates the world's 1.6 billion cell phone users are the equivalent of lab rats in a grand living laboratory and that children, with many years of cell phone use ahead of them, might be particularly vulnerable.

"There is evidence from the laboratory that isn't necessarily conclusive, but does point to a possible problem in the future," said Norbert Hankin, an
environmental scientist in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Radiation and Indoor Air, who has studied the effects of radio
frequency/microwave radiation for 33 years. He says some of the research findings are "worrisome."

"Once people start using cell phones, they don't change," Hankin said. "Kids 10 years old are using cell phones. Is there going to be any kind of effect
long term? We don't know."

Research about cell-phone use hasn't received the same media or public attention as other environmental health issues. But scientists are engaged in an
escalating debate over the potential risks -- a debate that some researchers say parallels early public-health disputes about secondhand smoke and
toxic chemicals.

Wireless phones emit low-level radio frequency/microwave radiation as they transmit a signal to a base station blocks or miles away.
Research has shown that some of the radiation enters the user's head, and some researchers are concerned repeated exposures over time might pose
serious health risks, including cancer and benign tumor growth.

Two U.S. agencies with authority to regulate the radiation emitted by the phones, the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communications
Commission, have issued statements saying there is nothing to fear from the phones, and that they are safe for children.

Joe Farren, a spokesman for CTIA-The Wireless Assocation -- the international group representing carriers, manufacturers and wireless Internet
providers -- cites the FDA and FCC stances in saying the industry is offering a safe product to children and their parents.

"This is an issue that should be guided by science, period. And the evidence does not show a danger to users of wireless phones," Farren said. "What we
constantly hear from parents is that they have a tremendous peace of mind when they give their child a phone."

Farren said some models for children allow parents to control the phone numbers their kids can call and block unwanted callers, as well as control the total
number of talk minutes allowed, and the time of day the phone is operational.

Walt Disney Internet Group announced in July it had created Disney Mobile and is teaming with Sprint to provide cell phones for "the family mobile market"
beginning next year. Disney withdrew cell phone faceplates featuring its Mickey Mouse and other cartoon characters about six years ago when health
concerns were raised by cell-phone research.

"The FDA has said that scientific evidence does not show a danger to users of wireless," said Disney spokeswoman Kim Kerscher.

But Hankin said it is not clear how protective current safety standards are because they are based on preventing the radiation from heating tissue and do
not take into account research that has shown biological changes, such as DNA breaks, at much lower levels of exposure.

He also expressed concern about epidemiological studies that have linked long-term cell phone use to an increased risk of acoustic neuroma, a non-malignant
tumor on a nerve that links the ear and brain.

Research findings

Last fall researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden reported that people who had used cell phones for 10 years had almost a fourfold increase of these
tumors on the side of the head where they most often held the phone, compared with the other side of the head.

A group of researchers from several European countries has found DNA damage in human and animal cells exposed to cell-phone radiation, and said mutations were passed on to the next generation of cells grown in the laboratory -- a process that can lead to cancer.

The research, led by Dr. Franz Adlkofer, of the Verum Foundation in Munich, Germany, was published in the June 6 issue of Mutation Research.

"We don't want to create a panic, but it is good to take precautions," Adlkofer said when the study was released. He and other health experts recommend using
a landline phone whenever possible, and using a hands-free headset when talking on a cell phone.

Other studies also have linked radiation such as cell phones emit to DNA breaks, brain-cell death, leaks in the barrier that protects brain tissue from toxins in
the bloodstream, increased risk of cancer of the eye, and memory and learning problems. Researchers who have tried to duplicate those studies, however,
often get negative results.

Governmental, consumer and physician groups in England, Italy, Russia, Germany and France also have advised a precautionary approach. In the United
Kingdom, which first advised cell-phone users in 2000 to keep calls short or use a hands-free earpiece, the National Radiological Protection Board said in
January their latest review of the evidence indicates those precautions should continue because studies "suggest that [radio-frequency] fields can interfere
with biological systems."

Soon after the January UK report was issued, however, the FDA and FCC posted this response on a joint Web site: "The scientific evidence does not show a danger to users of wireless communication devices including children."

In a phone interview with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the FDA's Howard Cyr said the statement was posted because cell phone emissions are not strong
enough to cause a biological effect.

"Experts have looked at this and say it cannot happen," said Cyr, whose primary concentration was on sun lamp and tanning bed regulation before becoming
lab leader of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. "We regulate on the basis of science, and the science says there is no hard evidence of adverse effects at the levels that cell phones produce."

After the Sun-Sentinel sent Cyr a list of research studies that reported finding biological effects, Cyr sent back an e-mail co-authored by a colleague, Abiy
Desta, a researcher in Cyr's lab, saying some studies that have found effects were poorly done.

"There are, however, a number of well-designed laboratory studies that have found biological effects after low levels of radio-frequency energy exposure
similar to those emitted by wireless communication devices. These studies need to be independently verified," the e-mail said.

"I don't think you can say we are certain there is no effect," Desta said in a phone interview. "We will continue to monitor the science."

FCC mandate

Ed Mantiply, a physical scientist in the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology, said the FCC gets guidance from the FDA, which is charged by law with
protecting the public from radiation emitted by electronic products.

"They can set performance standards, but they have chosen not to do so for cell phones. They've given us advice that the standards we are using are adequate," Mantiply said.

Jerry Phillips, a Colorado Springs researcher with a doctorate in biochemistry who has spent years studying the type of radiation emitted by cell phones, said the
federal government has made "a number of unscientific statements" on such research.

"It's important for people to know that there is credible research to indicate that exposure to [radio frequency] fields from cellular telephones produces significant changes in living systems," said Phillips, whose studies at the Loma Linda School of Medicine in California found DNA breaks at low-level exposures. "And some of the changes can be associated with harmful outcomes."

George Carlo, who was in charge of the six-year research program in the 1990s paid for by the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, and who concluded the phones may pose a health risk, said government agencies have been lax in addressing the issue.

"The watchdogs are not watching, or they're not barking. Whatever they're supposed to be doing, they're not doing it," said Carlo, an epidemiologist
and chairman of Science and Public Policy Institute, a non-profit group aimed at bridging the gap between science and politics, in Washington.

Carlo said a significant body of science has accumulated. "The question that needs to be asked is if you had these findings [from recent studies] before
the phones went on the market, would the government agencies ever have allowed these phones on the market, and the answer is no," Carlo said.

The FDA is overseeing some cell-phones health research that is being paid for by the cell phone industry to repeat studies that found biological effects during
Carlo's research program. The agency also supports a taxpayer-funded cell-phone research effort getting under way at the U.S. National Toxicology Program,
a division of the National Institutes of Health.

Sam Milham, a retired epidemiologist from the Washington state Department of Health, who spent years studying the effects of electromagnetic radiation and
cancer, calls the marketing of cell phones to children "scurrilous."

Milham said cancer research has shown it can take 20 years or more for some tumors to develop to the point that they cause symptoms.

Advice for parents

Researchers associated with the World Health Organization, writing in the August issue of the journal Pediatrics, said until more is known,
pediatricians "could advise parents that their children's [radio-frequency radiation] exposure can be reduced by restricting the length of calls or by using hands-free devices to keep the phones away from the head and body."

The authors, including Michael Repacholi, who heads the WHO's Radiation and Environmental Health section based in Geneva, said: "Consistent epidemiologic
evidence of an association between childhood leukemia and exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields has led to their classification by the
International Agency for Research on Cancer as a `possible human carcinogen.'

"Concerns about the potential vulnerability of children to radio-frequency fields have been raised because of the potentially greater susceptibility of
their developing nervous systems. Their brain is more conductive, [radio-frequency radiation] penetration is greater relative to head size, and they will have a longer lifetime of exposure than adults." But the WHO is still studying the need for precautionary measures.

Petitions sent

In late July, a diverse group of more than 30 children's advocates, including Nicholas Johnson, former Federal Communications Commission commissioner,
and children's entertainer Raffi Cavoukian, signed petitions and sent letters to members of Congress asking them to investigate the marketing of cell
phones to children, said Gary Ruskin, of Commercial Alert, a spokesman for the group.

That same month, Dr. Keith Black, one of the country's top neurosurgeons, told CNN that he believes some brain tumors may be linked to cell phones. Black,
director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurological Institute at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles, said the brain tumor that killed his friend and patient, attorney Johnnie
Cochran, may have been related to his many years of
cell phone use. The tumor occurred on the left side of Cochran's head, where he most often held the phone, Black said.

Yet despite the increased call for more research and governmental oversight of cell phone use, few federal employees are engaged in such studies. The EPA, which used to have more than 30 people assigned to health research related to electromagnetic fields from power lines and radio frequency/microwave radiation, now has one person, Hankin, who still works in the field.

Hankin said when the EPA's research program was dismantled, a wealth of knowledge was lost. "Congress didn't appropriate the funds. None of those
people are doing this kind of work anymore. I'm about the only one left," Hankin said. "There are some very small countries where the governments support
this kind of research and it's hard to know how they can do it and the United States can't."
By Nancy McVicar Health Writer
Posted October 2 2005
Nancy McVicar can be reached at nmcvicar@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4593.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: By Nancy McVicar

Cell phone electromagnetic radiation does not activate the stress response in cells
USA Created: 19 Oct 2005
Cell phone electromagnetic radiation does not activate

"We've done extensive studies on the effect of cell phone radiation in our research group in the past as well. Dr. Joseph Roti Roti and his colleagues have examined the potential for DNA damage and cellular transformation, and the effect of microwave radiation on animals has been studied also.
Now we've conducted this study of the molecular mechanisms of the stress response. In every case we've looked at, our group saw no biological effects of cell phone radiation that could cause cancer."

By Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Weighing in on the debate about whether cell phones have adverse health effects, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that the electromagnetic radiation produced by cell phones does
not activate the stress response in mouse, hamster or human cells growing in cultures.

The stress response is a cellular protection mechanism set into motion by various adverse stimuli, including heat shock, heavy metals, and inflammation. High levels of the stress response in cells are thought to result in changes associated with malignancy.

"We performed highly sensitive, extremely well-controlled tests on living cells irradiated with energy like that from mobile phones, but at levels 5
to 10 times higher than those set for the devices by regulatory agencies," says Andrei Laszlo, Ph.D., associate professor of radiation oncology and a
researcher at the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.
"We see no indication that factors involved in the stress response increase their activity as a result of such exposures."

Prior research into the effect of cell phones on the stress response has been fraught with contradictory results, which in part may be due to less-than-ideal experimental conditions.
or example, in the past it has been difficult to prevent temperature changes caused by microwave exposure.

Because heating of tissues has been shown unlikely to be a component of the effect of cell phone radiation on biological systems, Laszlo and his
group sought to reduce as far as possible any heating of the cells in culture during the study.
Using sensitive equipment that continuously monitored and adjusted temperature, they were able to keep temperature variations to plus
or minus 0.3 degrees centigrade.

The researchers tuned their room-sized irradiator to emit cell phone frequency microwaves for both FDMA (frequency domain multiple access—
used for cell phone analog signals) and CDMA (code domain multiple access—used for digital signals) modulation at power outputs standard for
mobile phones.
The large size of the irradiator enabled them to expose a large number of living cells so that sufficient material could be collected for highly accurate measurements.

"We were able to combine very good physics with very good biology as a consequence of the expertise of our research team," Laszlo says.

To test whether the cell's stress response was activated by irradiation, the group looked for activation of a protein called heat shock factor
(HSF).
he activation of HSF is a necessary first step in the cascade of events that induce the stress response.

Under both short-term exposures (5-60 minutes) and long-term exposures (1-7 days), all tests on the cells in culture showed that HSF was not
activated by microwave radiation of either type, indicating the stress response was not initiated.

"We've done extensive studies on the effect of cell phone radiation in our research group in the past as well," Laszlo says.
"Dr. Joseph Roti Roti and his colleagues have examined the potential for DNA damage and cellular transformation, and the effect of microwave
radiation on animals has been studied also.
Now we've conducted this study of the molecular mechanisms of the stress response.
In every case we've
looked at, our group saw no biological effects of cell phone radiation that could cause cancer."

References
1. Laszlo A, Moros EG, Davidson T, Bradbury M, Straube
W, Roti Roti J.
The heat-shock factor is not activated in mammalian cells exposed to cellular phone frequency microwaves.
Radiation Research, 2005 164:163-172.

Related Links: medschool.wustl.edu
Radiation Research Pathology Channel
Latest Research : Pathology
Oct 13, 2005, 15:11
Click here to view the source article.

San Francisco Mayor: "Wi-Fi a basic human right"
USA Created: 11 Oct 2005
Newt Gingrich once proposed giving laptops to the homeless - at the same time as he was axing food and medical services for the poor
Now San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom has borrowed a page from his playbook: Wi-Fi is a 'fundamental right', Newsom said today at a press conference.

The city wants to see an "affordable" Wi-Fi network covering the 43 hills, and 49 square miles of San Francisco, and Google is one of the bidders. With the boom-bust city $200 million in the red, Newsom wants taxpayers to contribute as little as possible for the network, estimated to cost between $8 million and $16 million.

It's certainly an ambitious proposal. The city wants the network to work when a connected device is moving at 30mph, so people can use it on the bus.

"Taking advantage of such a portable service would not generate a traffic hazard," the city's technology department advises us.

But it may be enough to cause mass hysteria. Few San Franciscans will believe a MUNI Transit bus even capable of going at 30mph.

The city isn't going to let something as trivial as technical specifications, or physics get in the way. City experts insist that 30mph Wi-Fi is possible with the 802.11b/g network it wants built - but it doesn't say that this isn't part of the spec, and requires expensive additional equipment for each moving vehicle - in this case, a runaway bus.

The goal of the project isn't free Wi-Fi, according to the city's tender, but for an "affordable" service "priced lower than the non-promotional retail rate of comparable offerings on the market."

Newsom says he expects a legal fight, and he'll surely get one. For 3G cellular providers a municipal network blows a hole through their prospects of making any money from data in this lucrative market. Cingular launched W-CDMA here last year, and Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS are just rolling out EVDO now. For operators who blanketed San Francisco with hotspots during the 2003 Wi-Fi bubble, a rival municipal network will mean the end of the road. For local ISPs, already facing likely extinction from the FTC's decision to allow SBC - the monopoly DSL wholesaler - from sharing its lines, there's the prospect of losing fixed broadband business to the wireless network. All face potential threats to future VoIP services too.

And why should 4G network providers ever look again at a market with a monopoly incumbent? Especially if that incumbent is Google. Google already operates hotspots in Union Square, and San Francisco could be the first major conurbation to fall to GoogleNet.

But Newsom relishes a legal fight, even if the odds are stacked against him. Days after his in auguration in 2004, Newsom permitted same sex marriages to take place in City Hall - fully expecting that a state court would strike it down very rapidly. However the publicity made Newsom a nationwide celebrity, and established his formerly shaky (as in non-existent) progressive credentials.

Perhaps that's how we should think of his Muni Wi-Fi campaign. As a sort of gay marriage - but for bloggers.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: The Register, Andrew Orlowski, 4 oct. 2005

PLEASE READ! IMPORTANT!!: Court victory is a first for cell-phone programmers (with British comments)
USA Created: 6 Oct 2005
Sharesa Price thought it was just another in a series of sinus infections. Her head and eyes hurt, and she was vomiting.
But then Price had a seizure, and a brain scan found something far more troubling.

"When I got home, the phone was ringing. It was the doctor's office, and they told me, `Brace yourself. Honey, you have a brain tumor.'
I was standing by the refrigerator, and I just collapsed, saying, `no, no, no, it can't be a brain tumor,'" she recalled.

After her diagnosis in 1999 and surgery to remove most of the tumor, Price started looking for answers.
She became convinced that exposure to radio-frequency radiation on the job, where she programmed cell phones for new customers, had caused the tumor.

In May, an administrative law judge who handles worker's compensation claims awarded her $30,000 to pay her medical bills and other expenses.
Price may be the first person to convince a judge that her illness was caused by radio-frequency radiation.
The decision is unlikely to have widespread repercussions for the cell phone industry, however, because the settlement was small.

Price's customers at Advanced Communications Systems in northern California were doctors, firefighters, police departments and security departments for casinos, and she loved her work. She used a cell phone several hours each day, and the room in which she worked contained transmitters that emitted radio-frequency radiation, she said.

Price said when she filed a workers comp claim, her boss fired her, eliminating her health insurance. Then she lost the case.
The Native American single mother of two daughters was devastated.
She turned to Tribal Health, a government health agency for Native Americans, to get anti-seizure medication.

"If I hadn't been Indian, I would have died," she said.

Her former boss, Dave Bohlen, said that he did not fire Price, that she quit based on her doctor's advice that she not return to work there.
Bohlen said he dropped the insurance because she was no longer an employee.
He called her worker's comp case "frivolous" and said there was no proof her tumor was caused by working in his small shop.

"There's nothing harmful going on here," he said.

After Price recovered from brain surgery, she went to the Internet and found researchers studying the biological effects of radio-frequency radiation, and got to know them.

"I would call them up and say, `You are absolutely dead on. If a rat could talk, this is what it would say. I'm the human rat.' "

Price couldn't find an attorney to take her case until she contacted Carl Hilliard, a semi-retired lawyer and president of the Wireless Consumers Alliance, a California-based consumer-advocacy group.
Hilliard volunteered to represent her pro bono and re-filed her workers comp case.

Hilliard said his group has represented cell phone users in issues involving poor service, billing problems and misrepresentations by cell phone service providers.
"We're the ones who filed a case saying federal law does not pre-empt state law [on consumer issues] and won that case four years ago,"
Hilliard said.

Hilliard brought in Dr. Nachman Brautbar, an occupational toxicologist and clinical professor of medicine at the University of Southern California School of Medicine, to review Price's medical records.

Brautbar has been an expert witness in a number of high-profile cases, including the chromium poisonings from polluted drinking water portrayed in the movie "Erin Brockovich".

Brautbar reviewed Price's case and wrote a report supporting her claim that the tumor was caused by exposure to radio-frequency radiation.

"It's not a money issue, suing the company, it's a health and safety issue," said Price, who speaks to school assemblies and classes about the need to use a headset when talking on a cell phone.
"We need to explain to people that just like putting on condoms, you have to take this precautionary measure to make the product be as safe as it can be."

Nancy McVicar can be reached at nmcvicar@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4593.
Through MWN http://www.microwavenews.com/fromthefield.html

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Comment:
By Dr. Grahme Blackwell www.starweave.com in Britain :
It's a start !
.
"Note" that we have here a legal precedent of non-ionising (radiofrequency) radiation being ruled to have caused a tumour - something the NRPB, WHO etc etc say is not possible, (But it's directly in line with findings of the REFLEX Project, and other studies, that say it IS).

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Comment:
by Eileen O´Connor of SCRAM Britain:

It is a step in the right direction, let’s hope it now open’s up the flood gates for claims against the mobile phone Industry.

*********************************************************************************************
Comment:
by Agnes: www.mast-victims.org:
$30,000 is no compensation for a brain tumour caused by mobile technology.
The compensation that the Mobile provider H3G UK Ltd. demands from an unsucesssful protester of radiation
exposure in their own home in Britain comes to £. 407.398.06 (British pound Sterling) which is more than 20 times
the awarde compensation.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: Source: By Nancy McVicar Health Writer.

Officials at odds over the long-term effects of cell phone use
USA Created: 4 Oct 2005
Officials at odds over the long-term effects of cell phone use

Cell phones now come in child-sized versions, some in pink for girls, some with cartoon themes designed to appeal to boys and girls alike.

But before you buy a wireless phone for your child's next birthday, you should know that government agencies and expert panels in several European countries have cautioned against routine use of the phones by children because of health questions raised by recent studies.

Some experts say research conducted during the past decade indicates the world's 1.6 billion cell phone users are the equivalent of lab rats in a grand living laboratory and that children, with many years of cell phone use ahead of them, might be particularly vulnerable.

"There is evidence from the laboratory that isn't necessarily conclusive, but does point to a possible problem in the future," said Norbert Hankin, an environmental scientist in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Radiation and Indoor Air, who has studied the effects of radio frequency/microwave radiation for 33 years. He says some of the research findings are "worrisome."

"Once people start using cell phones, they don't change," Hankin said. "Kids 10 years old are using cell phones. Is there going to be any kind of effect long term? We don't know."

Research about cell-phone use hasn't received the same media or public attention as other environmental health issues. But scientists are engaged in an escalating debate over the potential risks -- a debate that some researchers say parallels early public-health disputes about secondhand smoke and toxic chemicals.

Wireless phones emit low-level radio frequency/microwave radiation as they transmit a signal to a base station blocks or miles away. Research has shown that some of the radiation enters the user's head, and some researchers are concerned repeated exposures over time might pose serious health risks, including cancer and benign tumor growth.

Two U.S. agencies with authority to regulate the radiation emitted by the phones, the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communications Commission, have issued statements saying there is nothing to fear from the phones, and that they are safe for children.

Joe Farren, a spokesman for CTIA-The Wireless Assocation -- the international group representing carriers, manufacturers and wireless Internet providers -- cites the FDA and FCC stances in saying the industry is offering a safe product to children and their parents.

"This is an issue that should be guided by science, period. And the evidence does not show a danger to users of wireless phones," Farren said. "What we constantly hear from parents is that they have a tremendous peace of mind when they give their child a phone."

Farren said some models for children allow parents to control the phone numbers their kids can call and block unwanted callers, as well as control the total number of talk minutes allowed, and the time of day the phone is operational.

Walt Disney Internet Group announced in July it had created Disney Mobile and is teaming with Sprint to provide cell phones for "the family mobile market" beginning next year. Disney withdrew cell phone faceplates featuring its Mickey Mouse and other cartoon characters about six years ago when health concerns were raised by cell-phone research.

"The FDA has said that scientific evidence does not show a danger to users of wireless," said Disney spokeswoman Kim Kerscher.

But Hankin said it is not clear how protective current safety standards are because they are based on preventing the radiation from heating tissue and do not take into account research that has shown biological changes, such as DNA breaks, at much lower levels of exposure.

He also expressed concern about epidemiological studies that have linked long-term cell phone use to an increased risk of acoustic neuroma, a non-malignant tumor on a nerve that links the ear and brain.

Nancy McVicar can be reached at nmcvicar@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4593.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: By Nancy McVicar. Health Writer . Posted October 2 2005

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