The secret inside your cellphone (CBC Marketplace)

This is a special edition of the market Most of us carry our phones next to our body and why wouldn't we do scientific tests and the hidden message on

your

cell phone? I can not find it. That health information can't be turned into fine print, we tested the best-selling brand, so we have the results. We got the results. It surprised you. I don't think I handle it the same way. It hasn't worried me one bit. This is

your

market. There is a

secret

inside our phones. Some would. Even call it a warning, where could I find it?

It's a message that cell phone manufacturers need to share, but most have never seen it and can't even find it when testing the control center in general. I can not find it. On it, this is what the message looks like on my phone that says to reduce exposure to RF energy use a hands-free option, such as a speakerphone, to carry the phone at least 5 millimeters away from your body to ensure that exposure levels remain at or below established levels. Tested levels, so don't leave it in your pocket. I never hold my cell phone 1.5 meters from my mind.

Where does that mean exactly? What that message means is what I'm trying to figure out why they tell us to keep our phones away. our body is my first story about cell phones almost 20 years ago is your study something the cell phone industry was looking at yes there wasn't much science back then what we have now is a thimble full of research but suspicions were starting to emerge Growing up that cell phone use had some health risks When did you start to think this has something to do with a cell phone? I think when I saw the first MRI and saw the location of the tumor the suspicion also grew that we are not being told the whole story the industry may be totally malignant there are no adverse health effects in fields of this nature the industry clearly does not intervene Shouldn't we know the answer now after so many years?

I keep asking the same questions: Are cell phones safe and are they telling us enough to make that decision for ourselves? There's a city in California that doesn't believe we're Berkeley is a great example of the battle between people who think the public needs to know more about cell phones. and the cell phone industry, which thinks people have been told enough, the city council actually passed something called an ordinance ordering all cell phone stores in the city to post a hello sign, thanks to God, so when you walk in you see the message inside your phone that says actually on the counter I have it here and then they think people will have more information there they could change their behavior or they could choose not to change their behavior the city is in a new battle over what you can say about cell phones and their cancer risk Berkeley has gotten the message out, but those signs have generated a lot of controversy for now this law is in effect the cell phone industry wants a showdown between two lawyers today very high profile.

On the issue of warnings about cell phone radiation by the cell phone industry, the same lawyer who fought for Big Tobacco, there is no link between cell phones and any known health problems, they argue that the signals are alarmist, the total effect, your honor, is attentive. But Berkeley remains adamant, all we have done is make sure consumers are aware of this basis. The fight is expected to reach the Supreme Court. We will inform you when it issues its ruling. idea that this would lead to this. Did you know that cities have been trying to educate consumers about the radiation time effect and safe use guidelines for years?

Mayor Jesse Arigon is on the front lines in this battle for the right to know more. They say that this message has no basis, it has no scientific evidence that there is any security problem. All we ask of stores is that they provide the same information that the federal government requires and that is already supposed to be disclosed. There are less than 20 mobile stores here. Because? Is this such an important case for the wireless industry? I think the concern on the part of the telecommunications industry is that if we can do it in Berkeley, then other cities will do it too.

With this at the center of the message, the cell phone industry does not want information displayed on how to ensure you are not exposed to radiation levels above the government's safe limit, whether it suggests taking the phone to 5, 10 or 15 millimeters away. the body depends on how it was tested. I would say these are the best sellers of the three brands, so before I leave Berkeley, I grab a few phones to find out what the tests are all about. Here you are. Thank you very much, have you ever seen it? testing reform all these stories about cell phones I've never actually seen the testing.

The lab we go to is one of many that are contracted to test and certify phones before they are allowed to go on the market. show us how those tests work, but also without them doing an additional test because we want to see what happens, what results they get when they test the phone the way people actually use it directly against the body, so the chief engineer of this laboratory. His name is Jay Moulton and he's doing the testing for us today, so I've got three phones here to test, from the three major manufacturers, and the best sellers are the Samsung Galaxy, the LG Five, and the iPhone 7, so this is it.

This is this Molden was part of an international committee that designed this test standard. What are you going to start with? Well, we'll start with the head measurement. What is this? The wand is really looking for the greatest amount of electric field that is coming. in the tissue, this is supposed to represent what happens inside the brain. Yes, like the manufacturers, our phones will be tested at the highest possible power level, so we will transmit as if you were as far away from a base station as possible. receive and continue making a call my phone is trying to work harder this is the worst case it could get for a cell phone can we put it on the stand turn it close to the head and then right at this point I'm going to adjust it to Set it up so the speaker is right at the edge of your ear, that year of plastic is six millimeters thick and it places the phone at the distance we're supposed to hold it and if you're thinking that head looks big, it's because it's The head was designed based on a 1950s army study of all men in the army and they came up with an average sized head.

This idea was thought up before little kids started using phones. Yes, this one-size-fits-all model is simply one of the reasons critics say it's time for testing to change I'm in Washington DC Missy Deborah Davis she's a senior epidemiologist toxicologist when I met her about ten years ago she told me that the test method does not take into account at all effect the size of a child's brain you see here this side shows you the brain of an adult so this is where the cell phone sees it and this is the radiation that is absorbed yes, this is what worries us most is the head.

Since she was five years old, she was a big part of the fight to stop drinking water and fought against tobacco and for many years she has been fighting to tell people that they should worry about cell phones when I first interviewed you many years ago You were convinced there was a problem You are still convinced Oh, more than ever Unfortunately, why has science progressed? And without a doubt, we have more experimental data on animals. Unfortunately, we have more data on people. How much more science? it's there now and I say it's doubled since I actually realized and wrote about it in 2007 among the recent research, a twenty-five million dollar study on rats by the US government, the largest ever ever made, the findings were published last year. was created to answer the question of whether or not low levels of radiation, such as those from cell phones, had any effect on health, the scientists who led the study thought they would find nothing, they were surprised when they showed this increase in Highly malignant aggressive tumors of the brain and heart were surprised because some rats were exposed to radiation levels below the safety limit that cell phones must meet.

The findings were considered so important. In this regard, they say, although some argue that this study provides conclusive evidence, there are numerous scientific questions that must be addressed. Health Canada isn't the only one with questions for many, it all comes down to this: If cell phones are a problem, where are all the brain tumors? In humans, this is one of the worst tumors we've seen in a guy who said he lived on his feet in Edmonton. The neuro-oncologist dr. Jay Esau recently helped launch a brain tumor registry as soon as tumors grow, they put pressure on the skull to track what we're seeing in Canada, so you're looking, you're looking for 100% answers, what are your suspicions?

I think we will see more and more studies showing a correlation between cell phone use and the incidence of brain tumors. There is no doubt that we are seeing more young people coming to the clinic with brain tumors and the question is why, but their message is not reflected by Health Canada, yes, what do you think about that? Oh, you know, I understand why, because the data that exists is very controversial and, in Health Canada's position, they have to analyze the data and come to a conclusion and the truth is the data is not conclusive why is there not more? data you know why I'll tell you even in our own clinic we have tried to keep track of this and when we ask a patient about their cell phone use we ask them to remember it and that's just not reliable and that's why it's important to spread the word the message now, we need to at least get young people and adults to start thinking about their use and doing things that can potentially help protect them.

I did that test for anyone else, no I haven't because it's not a requirement for manufacturers not to do it. Very new technology. Old safety rules. This is your market. Scientific tests and your phone on your market have questions about the safety of cell phones. spanned decades as science increases on both sides, criticism about how much tells us that such health information cannot be turned into fine print. I think the information should be more available, why the concern is that microwave radiation is constantly being emitted and that the radiation if it is right next to your body, it penetrates you, whether it is your breasts or the pocket of your pants, the reality It's every millimeter closer to your head or body, you keep a phone, you can get more radiation, so why does the government allow phones to be tested remotely?

So this is where we do the body measurements, on the flat phantom and what will happen when we test them the way you actually use them, so you'll do the distance first. Yes, Chief Engineer J Moulton is helping us find out first. Measurement that we will lose with a space of five millimeters, which is a distance of five millimeters because that is how they test it. This is how Apple did the original test. Apple tests closer than many to five millimeters. LG does its tests to ten. Samsung. test this phone at fifteen which is a full centimeter and a half from the body, the maximum allowed, it seems that who uses their phones at T millimeters away, it is a big gap, a gap that was designed in the era of cases, what?

When was the last time you saw? something with a phone there that wasn't less than 70 years old, why don't they test the way people use it close to the body? I think if the phones were tested the way people use them, none of them would pass the first test results like the manufacturers do on all three phones, they are within the safety limit okay, so it's not surprise for you, it's not time to start our test the way most of us take them, we'll roll this all the way up to that - and it has a zero, yeah, have you ever done that test for someone else than you know?

I haven't done it because it's not a requirement, so manufacturers don't do it very often, it's not required, although most people we talk to say yeah, I definitely wouldn't carry a 5 millimeter for my body, I'd have it very close to me here's my bean pocket here or it's in my back pocket, but what harm could that do? We have known this for more than 10 years and that the men who maintain thephones in your pocket have lower sperm count, they have worse sperm quality, young women sometimes wear their phones in their bra, right. This is an MRI that our colleague Dr.

John West shared with us of a 21-year-old girl, these are tumors in her breast, the hot spot right here, right under where the phone was kept, but how Do you know what could be caused by a cell phone? We don't know, but what we know is that it is extraordinarily unusual for a young woman to have breast cancer, she has two, three or four and they all develop as separate tumors under the antenna. The phone, that's more than a coincidence; A link between breast cancer and phones has not been proven, except for Davis' case reports. things like this are worrying, we think it's worry enough and we tell people to be aware of this, this is why she doesn't use phones they should be tested the way we use them, so what happens when are they so drunk?

All tests are finished and the number exceeded the limit increased significantly with each of the phones. That's right, the phone exceeded the safety limit when moved directly against the body. The absorbed radiation increased three to four times. Does that worry you? Not mainly. because this is the worst case test where everything is at maximum powermaximum worst condition we shared our results with the three manufacturers LG told us that they take the responsibility of producing safe products seriously and perform tests according to the guidelines. Samsung says its phones meet or exceed all regulatory standards. As for Apple, they have no comments and refer us again. to that message on our phones Health Canada is on track or behind schedule they don't want to investigate this I think they are not there looking for any excuse they can find to continue with the status quo the former head of Microsoft Canada speaks This is your market This is your market Seven in ten people say they carry their phones in their pocket or against their body, but when we tested three popular brands, the way you use them exceeded the limits for exposure to Candida radiation.

It's scary. I don't think I handle it the same way. I know you're a little worried. You may be worried, but Health Canada says it's not because its safety limits include a wide safety margin to ensure radiation exposure remains well below the harm threshold. We are saying that the tests are so secure that there is no way we can be on everything that the system is outdated. You're testing something that isn't relevant to how we use phones or the ways we know phones can affect our health. It is 15 millimeters from his body. Canadian groups have urged Health Canada to reevaluate those safety limits as well, as science now shows possible harm below the level at which phones are tested.

We're stuck in this quagmire of believing in science like we were decades ago, Frank. Legs, the former president of Microsoft Canada, now heads a group that advocates for safer use of technology. There are dozens and dozens of studies that we presented to Health Canada that show harm at levels below Canada's guidelines. He thought they were moving forward a couple of years ago. Before the government agreed to review the issue, Clegg's research group presented more than 200 studies in humans and animals that suggested potential harms, from behavioral changes to DNA damage and sperm abnormalities, all at radiation levels. lower than those tested on phones.

Plegh was told that many not If you don't meet Health Canada's requirements, you want to know why I think you don't, they are looking for any excuse they can find to continue with the status quo. We repeatedly asked to speak to Health Minister Jane Philpott, but she declined our request for an interview, so we took our questions to cancer epidemiologist Paul Tumores. The evidence emerging is what I believe are still mixed dimers. He was asked to review the science on cell phones for Health Canada, so what's his bottom line? So what is the way we use? cell phones now, are we safe?

Well, I think we are. The fact is that we don't have, at least when I looked at the evidence last time, we don't have evidence to say that there are adverse health effects. There are other scientists I respect. Who is more convinced of what you do with your phone? I keep it in my pants pocket, so it comes in handy. It hasn't worried me to that level. As for Health Canada's bottom line, they say the entirety of the science doesn't support it. add a link to harm, even if a young child were exposed to cell phones 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, there would be no adverse health effects, so how do you explain Health Canada's record being atrocious?

How long did the tobacco figure take, so the fact that Health Canada is behind is news, the fact that they are not doing anything to me about it is inexcusable. Clegg wants change, but for now he says the information should be public so people can decide for themselves. I think there's an opportunity for Canada to be among the leaders in the world, like Berkeley, California, for manufacturers to say, look, be careful when using technology, there's a safe way to use it and there's a potentially harmful way when I started to cover. this is the menu the manufacturers were saying there are no signs to show any concern, then it became there is no conclusive evidence now it seems like the entirety of the science, isn't it changing the jargon?

Yes, the lingo is changing for me, but they can't make it all work. far, we should not insist on proof that we have created people before taking action to protect others, while Health Canada says not to worry, they provide advice if so, so do you feel you are closer of the answer? It's been 20 years asking two questions, one about the security of our cell phone, I still don't know the answer and two are people who are given enough information to decide for themselves and about that I think I have discovered, I think we have Most people have no idea that the messages on their phones are messages that the government requires, so I think it's pretty obvious that they could be more direct with that information, so I'll keep pushing for more information and let them know.

I'll report back in 20 years join us for our season finale on April 7th Menasha vs Team Chelsea let's do this Charles E and I go head to head investigating the wedding industrial complex one moment you say wedding the money bells ring stealing everything se market to brides like you need this or your wedding will suck, but are you paying more just for a word? You'd be looking at four hundred and fifty-two dollars You're looking at one hundred dollars Wow, it's a wedding war you don't want to miss