(The Highwire) It’s official—the FCC can now be added to the exhaustive list of government agencies that knowingly conceal essential information from Americans, impacting their ability to make choices necessary for optimal health. In step with the CDC, FDA, NIH, and numerous others who put their greedy agendas ahead of the people they are entrusted to protect, the Environmental Health Trust (EHT) recently revealed that the FCC intentionally hid test results showing that radiation exceeded federal limits when smartphones were near the human body, such as in a pants pocket.
Undoubtedly, the FCC’s actions could have negative implications for our health. The EHT has reported that in an apparent attempt to influence ongoing lawsuits about the health effects of cell phone radiation, the FCC—which voted last year on a plan that gives the Biden administration full control over the Internet—failed to disclose crucial information to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. This action is despite the FCC’s long-standing knowledge that certain smartphones exceeded their safety limits for exposure to wireless radiation when in close proximity to the human body—more of the same, just in a different vehicle.
Nevertheless, to learn a bit more, in 2019, the FCC tested several Motorola, Blu, Samsung, and Apple smartphone models for cell phone radiation SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) levels. SAR measures the rate of radiofrequency (RF) energy absorption by the body from the source being measured. According to information obtained by the EHT through a FOIA request, the FCC test results for phones in the pocket (2mm) were not made public until September 29, 2023, when they were released to EHT following its FOIA request. Typically, the FCC uses a separation distance of roughly 10mm or more for premarketing cellphone testing. Yet, as just stated, test results for several phones revealed 2mm levels. Yet, in an all-too-familiar pattern, the FCC swept it under the rug.
The FCC FOIA letter stated indisputably that for certain cell phones, the agency observed that at 2mm separation distance, the FCC radiofrequency (RF) exposure limits were exceeded. Moreover, when the FCC conducted these tests in 2019, it had an open rule-making regarding its 1996-era limits concerning human exposure to wireless radiation. The EHT noted that the FCC’s rule-making was followed by a federal court challenge, which resulted in the FCC and the FDA being subject to a court-ordered reprimand in August 2021. EHT’s incoming president, Kent Chamberlin, and vice president for policy and education, Theodora Scarato, remarked:
“The FCC and FDA did not reveal these cell phone tests during the court case and have yet to respond to the court-ordered remand, which is a matter of grave concern.
Why did the FCC perform these tests and then decide not to release the results to the public while it was conducting a rule-making on this very subject? Why did the FCC refuse to release all the records on this issue? It is outrageous that the U.S. allows phones to be tested with whatever separation distance the companies want. Phones should be tested the way they are used. Children and adults use and carry phones pressed to their body for hours every day. We need a strong oversight and compliance program, including post-market RF emission and health effect surveillance. It is time for a new approach to cell phone testing, one that reflects the way people use phones today.”
Those paying attention know that Children’s Health Defense (CHD) has held the FCC and telecom industry accountable for years with numerous Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) and Wireless lawsuits. Remarking about the latest misstep by the FCC, lead CHD litigator W. Scott McCollough declared the agency’s actions “scandalous.” He applauded EHT for “digging this out and exposing the FCC’s extraordinary efforts to protect the industry it is supposed to regulate, rather than protecting the people whose health it should be safeguarding, but concealing information people need to know.”
A 2019 investigation by the Chicago Tribune prompted the FCC to hide the radiation results. That fraudulent deed was responsible for the dismissal in 2020 of high-profile lawsuits like Cohen v. Apple. The plaintiffs in that case argued that Apple failed to warn iPhone users that they would receive excessive radiation if they positioned the phone close to their body. The case was dismissed because the FCC claimed to have tested Apple phones and found them compliant with FCC exposure regulations.
