July 24, 2008
In another confusing story to us the public, everyone has picked up the story about the head of a prominent cancer research agency telling the employees to limit their mobile phone usage.
“Really at the heart of my concern is that we shouldn’t wait for a definitive study to come out, but err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later,” Herberman said. [Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute]
The suggestion is to limit use for children to emergencies, use hands-free devices, and use speaker phones. The article cites several studies and the FDA saying that there are no issues.
Of course, this makes me think of autism and vaccines. Is it an issue or not? It also begs the question and the social responsibility of the health care system on whether to encourage us to be cautious or wait the decades for definitive research.
It’s easy to encourage people to be cautious, unless some biopharma company has a hormone therapy it needs to sell to women.