Maine Legislator Wants Warning Labels on Phones

[Paul Daniel Ash]

Next month, the U.S. state of Maine's legislature will discuss putting warnings on cell phones that say they can cause brain cancer, despite the fact that scientists are divided over the risk and manufacturers claim the devices are safe. State Representative Andrea Boland claimed that several studies now show that the radiation emitted by cell phones does pose a cancer risk, and wants manufacturers to put labels on mobiles that warn users - especially pregnant women and small children - to keep their phones away from their heads and bodies.

The idea that the radio frequency (RF) energy emitted by cell phones increases the risk of cancer in the brain is sketchy at best. A recently published study looked at the incidence of brain tumors in Scandinavia between the 1970s and the early 2000s and found no significant change in brain tumor rates in adults 5 to 10 years after cell phone usage went up. The FCC maintains that all cell phones sold in the US are safe, but many people believe that repeated RF exposure, even at low levels, can lead to brain tumors.

According to a report by the Associated Press, Boland uses a speaker so she can keep her phone away from her head and leaves her phone switched off unless she is expecting a call. Under the bill that she is proposing, manufacturers would have to put information on the phones' packaging to warn customers of the potential link between brain cancer and electromagnetic radiation, and would have to put a non-removable black label with "warning" written in red, accompanied by a graphic of a child's brain, on the phone itself.

image via Engadget

[confucious]

I think the label should be on the front....

[metaserph]

^ LOL, yeah right over the screen. Is it election time again?

[theclueless]

wonder when scientists will post the result of the study "stupidity causes cancer"

just nowadays what doesnt cause cancer?

[eg6motion]

According to a report by the Associated Press, Boland uses a speaker so she can keep her phone away from her head and leaves her phone switched off unless she is expecting a call.

omg. I think she already has brain damage, perhaps she should keep away from the general public as to not increase her symptoms.

[tudtran]

yeah. That's gonna work. Maine's people should be mad, cause they payed taxes for legislators to be wasted time on this. When I bet there are so many other things they could be doing.

[GhStRdR2k]

So let me get this straight, using my phone will give me cancer. So I should not put my phone near my head and use a bluetooth headset which uses the same RF but goes IN my ear....

Like the previous poster stated, what doesn't cause cancer nowadays.

[fishbone]

Wait guys, the lady is right!

I heard somewhere that a study was conducted by a Maine's university at her request, which concluded that every person who was diagnosed with cancer in the last 5 years all used cellphones... and now they are extending their studies to groups of people that uses microwaves and wristwatches!!!

[eg6motion]

Wait guys, the lady is right!

I heard somewhere that a study was conducted by a Maine's university at her request, which concluded that every person who was diagnosed with cancer in the last 5 years all used cellphones... and now they are extending their studies to groups of people that uses microwaves and wristwatches!!!

hmmm, very strong evidence, but I substitute the cause of the cancer as.... HATS... I am guessing that every single person in the last 5 years of that study had a hat on at some point or another, or perhaps shoes... those are the real culprits!

[jaredb03]

Why would our govt need proof of this to get it done??? ever heard of global warming? no proof on that either but spending billions on trying to prevent something that isn't happening and completely made up.

[eg6motion]

Why would our govt need proof of this to get it done??? ever heard of global warming? no proof on that either but spending billions on trying to prevent something that isn't happening and completely made up.

actually, there's lots of proof of global warming, the question is whether or not human actions are causing it. The planet goes through it's own warming and cooling trends, how's the Ice Age proof enough for you of a cooling trend? Warming is what it's doing now, just not sure if we are aiding it or can prevent it, just don't ask Al Gore, he's totally cereal.

[viperstarpoint9]

Yes lets put a label on my phone that I paid $300 for and did not get a vote in for the label. So I say lets not make out $300 iPhones look like $20 billboards in our hands. Their our phones and not some politicians propaganda machine. This is not WWII and a school desk will not protect you from falling bombs. I know this is not war but the level of ignorance behind it is the same thing.

[matthew1111]

I'm not paying that much money to have an iPhone that looks tacky.(Even if it does cause cancer, just put lables on the box, not the iPhone)_

[JaydeTech]

Ya know, all these scientists are worthless. I bet I can find 10,000,000 different things that 'cause cancer'. Because we all know that a correlation proves causation.

If all these scientists stop trying to put warning labels on everything, how about they do something like I don't know...try and cure cancer?

[Freerunnering]

Boland uses a speaker so she can keep her phone away from her head and leaves her phone switched off unless she is expecting a call. Under the bill that she is proposing, manufacturers would have to put a non-removable black label with "warning" written in red, accompanied by a graphic of a child's brain, on the phone itself.

So to save you reading the article let me sum up the article

"a mad woman (read above^^) has a phobia of phone's and tech so to make her feel better she wants lots of crazy idiotic pointless laws to be passed so her maddness seems normal!

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but really this just makes be mad that such idiots get into government not loony prison!!

[confucious]

I say lets not make out $300 iPhones look like $20 billboards

Billboards cost a lot more than $20!

[agentfubu]

They don't put warning labels on individual cigarettes only the box...

So basically she's proposing phones are worse than cigarettes??

[Freerunnering]

Why would our govt need proof of this to get it done??? ever heard of global warming? no proof on that either but spending billions on trying to prevent something that isn't happening and completely made up.

Big difference the carbon dioxide levels from an ice age to here are an difference of 20 parts per million and has never been above 290 since the industrial revolution its gone from 275 parts per million to 385 parts per million!

Wait guys, the lady is right!

I heard somewhere that a study was conducted by a Maine's university at her request, which concluded that every person who was diagnosed with cancer in the last 5 years all used cellphones... and now they are extending their studies to groups of people that uses microwaves and wristwatches!!!

That's right i saw a study that said that every person ever to die was breathing for some period of time!
so to not die simply don't breathe then youll not have to worry about anything!
(maybe to be safe we should avoid thinking moving talking seeing or touching?

[confucious]

They don't put warning labels on individual cigarettes only the box...

So basically she's proposing phones are worse than cigarettes??

Of course! Have you ever tried smoking an iPhone?

[riku98523]

Waves emitted from a cell phone aren't small enough to enter cells thus they can not cause mutations in the cells and thus they can not cause cancer. This like many other "warnings" is bs (cough Global Warming cough).

You have a higher chance of getting cancer from the light exposure from your monitor.