Cell Phones Linked to Brain Tumors. A Washington D.C. superior court judge ruled that five scientific expert witnesses can testify for consumers suffering from brain tumors allegedly caused or promoted by cell phone radiation. Judge Frederick H. Weisberg, who is presiding over 13 consolidated lawsuits against the telecom industry, ruled that the experts met the legal […]
Cell Phones Linked to Brain Tumors. A Washington D.C. superior court judge ruled that five scientific expert witnesses can testify for consumers suffering from brain tumors allegedly caused or promoted by cell phone radiation.
Judge Frederick H. Weisberg, who is presiding over 13 consolidated lawsuits against the telecom industry, ruled that the experts met the legal standards and can offer testimony related to injury causation and health effects. In December 2013 and January 2014, the court held evidentiary hearings and reviewed hundreds of exhibits. Judge Weisberg noted that while the court did not decide the issue of whether cell phones cause brain tumors, new scientific studies and information have emerged on the issue.
Weisberg’s order referred to a French study that found support for “a possible association between heavy mobile phone use” and brain tumors. The French researchers used a cancer registry to identify adults with meningiomas or gliomas, two of the most common adult brain tumors. The radio frequency electromagnetic fields that researchers believe can cause cancer cause heat as they penetrate tissue. Holding a cell phone to the ear brings the source of the radiation frequencies close to the brain, and this may be the link between cell phones and brain tumors, according to the Guardian Liberty Voice. Some critics say the non-ionizing energy emitted by cell phones should not cause damage to chemical bonds or DNA within a human body, but the Environmental Working Group found studies showing that cell phones carried in pants pockets can affect men’s sperm quality.
An attorney involved in one of cases said “We now have opinions and testimony from prominent scientific experts that will be admissible and support our clients’ claims that cell phone radiation can cause brain tumor in humans.” The first of the consolidated cases is Michael Patrick Murray et al. v. Motorola Inc. et al., case no. 2001 CA 008479 B in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. The defendants in the cases are Motorola Inc., Qualcomm Inc., Nokia Inc., Audiovox Communications Corp., and Samsung Telecomm American LLC.
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