US Researchers Ask for Cell Phone Safety Tax
US Researchers Ask for Cell Phone Safety Tax
Posted 09/16/2009 at 5:05pm
| by Ryan Whitwam
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A US Senate Subcommittee heard testimony Monday from cell phone safety researchers. The researchers said that more money was needed for… you guessed it, cell phone safety research. Their solution to this quandary is a one dollar government imposed tax on every mobile phone bill. These funds would go directly to further investigate the effects of cell phone use.
Devra Davis, of the University of Pittsburgh, claimed that additional study may support claims of mobile phones causing cancer. As a counterpoint, Linda Erdreich, of Exponent's Health Sciences Center for Epidemiology, cited current scientific studies demonstrating no causal effect. “The current scientific evidence does not demonstrate that wireless phones cause cancer or other adverse health effects," said Erdreich.
The safety researchers claim that cell phone radiation is causing damage to DNA, leading to cancer. Though, opponents are quick to point out that there is no known mechanism by which cell phones can damage DNA. Only two of the twelve senators on the committee managed to show up, so this probably isn’t going anywhere. If it were, would you be willing to foot the bill for additional research, or is it the manufacturer’s problem? Is it even necessary?
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AttilaTheHunk
September 17, 2009 at 5:17pm
Instead of wasting taxpayer's money on whether a cellphone can cause a cancer or not how about spend that on stem cell research instead ;)
ogremustcrush
September 17, 2009 at 10:56am
$1 per cell phone? Aren't there well upwards of 200m cell phone lines in the US. So 200m/month x 12/year, 2.4billon dollars per year. Hard to see what they would need that much money for on cell phone research, especially considering tons of research has already been done, the vast majority of which finding no impact on human health from cell phone radiation.
devin3627
September 17, 2009 at 7:50am
more research needed. there is no proof for anything now or the finance for the research.
wolf17
September 16, 2009 at 6:15pm
Right, because my cell phone bill isn't expensive enough!(/sarcasm)
"Life is about living, not stressing" - a very smart girl :)
Tekzel
September 21, 2009 at 4:59am
What the hell kind of reply was that? Not only was it inappropriate, but I can't figure out what he said that would make you say something like that. Didn't your parents teach you how to get along in polite society?
wolf17
September 18, 2009 at 10:15pm
"wow" is the only response you deserve, if that.
"Life is about living, not stressing" - a very smart girl :)
Ryan Whitwam
September 16, 2009 at 5:50pm
So my personal feelings on this are that cell phones aren't going to kill you. It's just pointless hysteria. A Danish study followed over 400,000 people over the course of years. Some people in the study have been using cell phones since the 80s. There's no correlation between cell phone use and tumors.
johnny3144
September 16, 2009 at 5:31pm
instead of researching and debating about wheather it cause cancer or not for the past 10 year+, why not just develope a new kind of mobile phone? they probally spent more than enough money in the last 10 years on this cellphone radiation thing.
Hutif
September 16, 2009 at 5:16pm
Is there anything left that *wont* give you cancer, anymore? This sounds to me like a waste of government money and time, which explains why only an eighth of the committee bother's showing up to such an unnecessary discussion.
I Jedi
September 16, 2009 at 7:55pm
So, you're saying that most of Congress isn't onboard with wasteful government spending? Hm.
comptech08
September 16, 2009 at 5:18pm
Ya, and if they want to study this, then they need to fund it themselves. Don't tax the people that are using the phones, because they obviously dont give a crap if it could cause cancer or they wouldn't be using them daily.
wolf17
September 18, 2009 at 10:18pm
lol, too true!
OTOH, I suppose the researchers could argue this particular bit of cellphone radiation gives us cancer as well as impairing our judgement; therefore, they should study it regardless of our feelings on the matter :P.
"Life is about living, not stressing" - a very smart girl :)
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