Expert Forum on Cell Phone and Wireless Risks to Children

Cell Phones and Wireless Technologies—Should Safety Guidelines Be Strengthened to Protect Adults, Children and Vulnerable Populations? Should Parents, Teachers & Schools Restrict Technology Overuse Among Children?

Camilla Rees, Electromagnetic Health Blog, July 19, 2015

An Expert Forum on Cell Phone and Wireless Risks to Children was held at the Commonwealth Club of California on June 22, 2015. 

The focus was on the special risks to children and other vulnerable populations from cell phone and wireless exposures. It featured a special segment portraying actual dosimetry measurements of WiFi exposures in a school.

Panelists addressed the questions:

• Should safety guidelines be strengthened to protect adults, children and vulnerable populations?
• Should parents, teachers and schools restrict technology overuse among children?

The program was co-organized by ElectromagneticHealth.org and Environmental Health Trust in association with Citizens for Health, the California Brain Tumor Association and the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, with the support of four of the Commonwealth Club’s Member-Led Forums: Health & Medicine, Environment & Natural Resources, Science & Technology and Business & Leadership.

Beyond the biological and health effects, the impacts on children and discussion of the adequacy of the IARC Group 2B ‘Possible Carcinogen’ classification, there was a special focus on the role that overuse of wireless technologies may be playing in attention, functional and relational difficulties and in exacerbating childhood psychiatric conditions. 
Panelist Dr. Victoria Dunckley is the author of a book on this subject published recently by New World Library, “Reset Your Child’s Brain: A Four-Week Plan to End Meltdowns, Raise Grades, and Boost Social Skills by Reversing the Effects of Electronic Screen-Time."

Links to the video of each presentation appear below in addition to a link to a podcast of the entire forum.


Introductions

Dr. Bill Grant and Camilla Rees, MBA
https://vimeo.com/131743004

PDF of opening remarks by Dr. Bill Grant, Commonwealth Club, Chair Health & Medicine
http://electromagnetichealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Bill-Grant-EMF-Program-Intro.pdf

PDF of introductory remarks by Camilla Rees, MBA, ElectromagneticHealth.org
http://electromagnetichealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Camilla-Rees-EMF-Program-Intro.pdf

Panel 1 Theme: What are people—and especially children—experiencing today from cell phone use, wireless devices/computers, and exposure to wireless infrastructure? Are exposure guidelines adequate?

Erica Mallery-Blythe, MD, Physicians’ Health Initiative for Radiation and Environment (PHIRE), UK
https://vimeo.com/131798243

Karl Maret, MEng, MD, Dove Health Alliance, USA
https://vimeo.com/132039697

Victoria Dunckley, MD, Child Psychiatrist, USA
https://vimeo.com/132159417


Panel 2 Theme: What is the latest EMF science telling us about the risks, the mechanisms of action, and the adequacy of the IARC warning?

Lloyd Morgan, BS, Environmental Health Trust, USA
https://vimeo.com/132983244

Devra Davis, PhD, MPH, Environmental Health Trust, USA
https://vimeo.com/132867948

Martin Pall, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Washington State University, USA
https://vimeo.com/132870272

Nesrin Seyhan, PhD,  Head of Biophysics Department & Bioelectromagnetics Laboratory, Medical Faculty, Gazi University, Turkey
https://vimeo.com/132881352


Panel 3 Theme: Additional science and research in progress on electrosensitivity, and overview of what other countries are doing to protect children from a newly published study by Mary Redmayne, PhD, “International policy and advisory response regarding children’s exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF)."

Ellen Marks, California Brain Tumor Association, USA
https://vimeo.com/132868759

Beatrice Alexandra Golomb, PhD, Professor, University of California, San Diego, USA

Video pending.

Suleyman Kaplan, PhD, Vice Rector, Ondokuz Mayis University, Turkey
https://vimeo.com/132987053

Mary Redmayne, PhD, Post Doctoral Research Fellow, Monash University, Australia
https://vimeo.com/132984659


Final Remarks: Domestic Policy Implications

Joel Moskowitz, PhD, Director, Center for Family and Community Health, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Video: https://vimeo.com/133169375

Slides: http://bit.ly/PolicyOptionsJMM

Podcast of entire forum (3:27:32)http://audio.commonwealthclub.org/audio/podcast/cc_20150622_wireless.mp3


Gratitude to the Commonwealth Club for hosting this important public health program on the risks to children from cell phones and wireless technologies, and to the panelists from five countries and many disciplines of science and medicine who together present an invaluable depiction of the harm, and potential long-term additional risks, to children from widespread exposure to Radiofrequency Radiation from cell phones and wireless technologies.

http://bit.ly/CC062215