Authorizing Committee on Public Health & Human Services to hold hearings on the potential health risks from cell phone radiation and the actions the City of Philadelphia can take to better educate all cell phone users, particularly children and teens on ways to reduce radiation exposure by using headsets, speakerphones and texting.

WHEREAS, Cell phone use is now pervasive in the City of Philadelphia, and landline phones are being abandoned; and

WHEREAS, Peer-reviewed case-control science studies have shown a statistically significant risk of brain tumors after ten or more years of cell phone use; and

WHEREAS, Peer-reviewed science studies have shown a two-hour exposure of cell phone radiation to rats' brains results in double-strand DNA breaks; and

WHEREAS, Peer-reviewed science studies have shown a two-hour exposure to human cells have shown genotoxic effects (damaged DNA) to these human cells; and

WHEREAS, A peer-reviewed science study has shown that the risk to children of brain tumors is far higher than for adults and is consistent to other peer-reviewed science studies which have shown the younger a child is first exposed to carcinogens the higher their risk to cancers from exposure to such carcinogens; and

WHEREAS, Numerous countries, including Israel and France have issued Cell Phone Radiation Advisories to their citizens about the risk associated with cell phones; and

WHEREAS, The City & County of San Francisco have passed an ordinance requiring that merchants must tell potential purchasers of cell phones the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) of cell phones along with methods of cell phone use than can greatly reduce the cell phone radiation of the user's use of cell phones; and

WHEREAS, Cell phone user's manuals contain “small print” warning about keeping a cell phone at a distance from the user; and

WHEREAS, The State of Maine introduced legislation to provide warning labels on cell phones; and

WHEREAS, The radiation risk from cell phones is greatly reduced when a person is using a wired headset or speakerphone; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby authorize the Committee on Public Health & Human Services to hold hearings on the potential health risks from cell phone radiation and the actions the City of Philadelphia can take to better educate all cell phone users, particularly children and teens on ways to reduce radiation exposure by using headsets, speakerphones and texting

.

End