When cell phones came onto the market in 1983 they did so without any pre-market safety testing. How was this allowed? Normally, any consumer device that emits radiation would be required to go through specific safety testing to determine if there would be any risk to the population. But based on information from the cell phone industry the cell phone became exempt from any such testing. The information provided by the cell phone industry to the government at that time stated that the only harm that could come from this type of radiation had to do with the heating effect on biological tissues. Because cell phones operated at such a very low power it was not possible for them to heat biological tissue. Therefore, the government excluded cell phones from the requirement of doing any pre-market safety testing. The microwave oven was used as the example in the cell phone industry's claim. The microwave oven produces microwaves, i.e. radiation, that oscillate at a very high frequency. These microwaves are also driven by a very high source of power. When a food item is placed in a microwave oven it causes the water molecules in the food to move very rapidly. This increased activity produces friction that, in turn, produces heat. When this occurs long enough food will cook. It's a fairly simple process. Obviously, exposing the human body to those microwaves wouldn't be wise since the heating effect would eventually heat and destroy human tissue. So to make the microwave radiation used by cell phones safe the cell phone manufacturers simply lowered the power used to drive those frequencies. Since the power used by cell phones was so much lower than a microwave oven the heating effect did not take place. Therefore, the cell phone was presumed to be safe. The rationale was that if only a small amount of power was used and it wasn't strong enough to heat human tissue then no damage would occur. No heat, no harm. And that was the assumption that was used by the federal government to allow cell phones to be sold and manufactured. Current standards for safe radiation exposure are based solely on this heating, or thermal effect. No testing was ever done to evaluate whether or not the frequencies themselves might be harmful. This was left to chance discovery. It is a giant experiment that every cell phone user is participating in today. We now know that the mechanism causing damage is not a thermal or heating effect issue but is something more subtle and even more damaging.

The Cell Phone Companies Know

In 1993, Larry King had a guest on his show named David Reynard of Tampa, FL. During the show Mr. Reynard unleashed a bombshell that ignited one of the most shocking controversies in television history. He stated that he was filing a lawsuit against the cell phone companies and was alleging that his wife, Susan, had died from a brain tumor caused by repeated use of a cell phone. This allegation caused cellular stocks to quickly tumble. Congressional inquiries were triggered and the cell phone industry scrambled to save its image. In an effort to reassure the public and the government the cell phone industry agreed to conduct long-term research studies to prove that cell phones were safe. Following public hearings the Senate took issue with both the cell phone industry and with the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA was the agency of responsibility for granting approval of cell phones. To settle the allegations and bring proof to the issue the cell phone industry volunteered to conduct long-term research to prove cell phone safety. However, they offered to do so only if the FDA agreed not to regulate them until the research was completed. And so the process began.

As a first step, the cell phone industry hired appropriate medical and science researchers to conduct a study that was to become the largest of its kind ever conducted on cell phone safety. The cell phone industry funded this research project with $28.5 million of its own money. The protocol required that every study conducted to be duplicated in at least two laboratories. Research protocols were peer reviewed before being initiated. Furthermore, preliminary data were peer reviewed before interpretation and final reports and data were peer reviewed at the conclusion of the process. Every effort was made to ensure the study was above reproach and that the results of the study were credible and not biased due to industry funding.

Learn more about cell phone radiation and EMF protection .