The CBS Evening News took on the brain tumor-cell phone story tonight with "Maine Considers Warnings for Cell Phones." The focus was on State Representative Andrea Boland's bill, the Children's Wireless Protection Act, which would require cell phones be sold with warning labels. That bill has practically no chance of getting through the legislature. Members of the Health and Human Services Committee unanimously (13-0) opposed it earlier in the week, according to the Associated Press. And even if the legislature were to pass the bill, Gov. John Baldacci would likely veto it.
Last night, CNN's Campbell Brown ran a segment, "How Safe Is Your Cell Phone?" on her prime time news show. Her guests were Time magazine's Bryan Walsh who has a cell-phone feature in this week's issue and John Boockvar, a neurosurgeon at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. Boockvar, who appeared on the CNN set wearing his scrubs and white coat, expressed skepticism that there might be any link between cell phones and brain tumors. The RF radiation emissions, he said, "probably do not cause any significant tissue damage that would cause brain tumors to form." He went on to note that the incidence of brain cancer in the U.S. has stayed "relatively stable over the last ten years" as the use of cell phones has risen exponentially. Boockvar joins Ted Schwartz as the second Weill Cornell neurosurgeon to take the national stage to downplay public concerns over cell phone risks.
