January 2000

A flurry of press reports that have revived public concerns about cellular telephones has kept the RF Safety committee busy in the past months.

The RF Safety Committee has participated in the following areas over the past six months:

1. RF Safety Committee Activities (Review of RF Safety related text in ARRL publications).
2. Monitoring recent scientific studies regarding RF (ABC 20-20).
3. Participation in the scientific RF Safety community (NCI Study, IEEE Standards Committee).
4. Administrative issues (Email reflector, Web Pages, Question Pools, ARRL RF Safety text reprint booklets).
5. Future Plans (Rewriting RF Safety text, Public RF Safety Web Page, Dayton Hamvention).

1. RF Safety Committee Activities
1. Dr. Lapin noted that some of the RF Safety related text in ARRL publications is erroneous and does not present the view of the committee.
2. The Committee has adopted the general principle that no text should discuss the relative safety of exposure from RF sources that are below the permitted exposure limits. This is based on the biological principle that damage from RF is based on heat. When the amount of RF heat generation exceeds the body's ability to remove it, tissue damage can occur. Thus, if exposure to an RF source is not generating more heat than the body can remove, lower exposure will not be any safer.
3. Mr. Hare put together a small volume that contained the RF Safety related extracts from all ARRL publications and shipped this to each member of the committee for review.
4. In a couple of instances, the text in some older ARRL publications included statements of this kind. These were noted so future editions of these publications can be corrected.
2. Monitoring Scientific Studies
1. The RF Safety Committee was forewarned of an upcoming feature story on ABC News 20-20 television newsmagazine that pertained to RF Safety with respect to cellular telephones. The story was touted by Diane Sawyer, one of its anchorpersons, to be the "story that everyone will be talking about tomorrow." As far as our committee was concerned, this prediction was accurate.
2. Even though the story was about cellular telephones, it was closely related to the use of handheld Amateur Radio equipment and was considered to be directly related to the work of the committee.
3. After viewing the piece on television, a lively email discussion ensued among the RF Safety Committee members. Our conclusions were that it was sensationalist journalism that lacked virtually any scientific basis. Many of the experts who were interviewed were not experts in this field at all.
4. There are over 100 scientists worldwide who actively study electromagnetic bioeffects. Rather than interview a number of these experts, or at least review their work, the TV show chose to interview many others who lack the background to be considered experts in this highly complex field. Many of these were misrepresented as experts by using their degree title (PhD or MD), even though their field of expertise was only, at best, peripherally related to the mechanisms of electromagnetic bioeffects.
5. The show mentioned Dr. Henry Lai, who published a study showing DNA breakage in brains of rats exposed to "Cellular Telephone type radiation." Lai has followed this up with a study showing the similar RF energy causes rats to forget how to perform learned tasks. Lai publicized his findings to the popular press, before they were accepted in the scientific press. Dr. Guy, who developed the exposure system that Lai uses, informed the committee that "exposures in Henry's exposure system didn't simulate either the power or character of the exposures from cellular phones… the rat exposures in the system exceeded even those from human exposure to a high power radars…that a person standing directly in front of a high power Air Force radar would experience less absorption of energy."
6. The committee concluded that it was not our place to respond to this, or any, specific news story, but rather we should make sure that the correct information is readily available for the Amateur Radio community. Dr. Lapin volunteered to write an article for QST that discusses the safety issues with the use of RF, and how to interpret contrary information that is provided by the popular media. This article should be ready early in 2000.
3. Participation in the Scientific RF Safety Community.
1. Following a very positive email exchange with Dr. Kenneth Cantor at the National Cancer Institute regarding ARRL participation in an NCI epidemiological study of cancer in radio amateurs, there has been no further contact from NCI. We must assume that the study has been put on hold.
2. Dr. Lapin continues to review scientific papers for IEEE Standard C95.1, which is being revised during the next year.
3. Dr. Lapin serves on the IEEE Committee on Man and Radiation, which develops informational text about various issues regarding the effects of nonionizing radiation on humans and medical devices. COMAR also publishes position papers about the dangers, or lack thereof, of various technologies with respect to nonionizing radiation.
4. Mr. Hare and Dr. Guy continue to serve on the IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee 28 on Non-Ionizing Radiation, which develops the standards for human exposure to RF energy.
5. Dr. Siwiak presented an RF Safety lecture to a "Codeless Tech" class run by Chuck, W4ROA, at Bair Middle School, 12 Oct 1999.
6. Dr. Siwiak continues to serve on the Motorola Electromagnetic Exposure Committee.
7. Mr. Myers serves on the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists Physical Agents TLV Committee.
8. Dr. Guy was interviewed by CNN in a story about allegations made by Dr. Henry Lai in a press release about his research efforts (see 2.5).
4. Administrative Issues
1. Mr. Hare continues to administer the RF Safety committee email reflector, which handles correspondence between committee members. Other ARRL staff members monitor traffic over the reflector and we occasionally receive helpful comments from them.
2. The committee was sent, by Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, the list of RF Safety related questions from the FCC Question Pools. The committee was asked to review the questions for correctness in preparation for pending question pool rewrites. Committee members have responded individually to Bart.
3. Dr. Lapin requested a review of all RF Safety related text that appears in ARRL publications when it became evident that there is more text than we were aware of and some of it was old and misleading. Mr. Hare prepared a booklet for committee members containing copies of all such material.
4. While in Connecticut on other business, Dr. Lapin visited ARRL HQ on 6 Jan 2000 in order to meet many of the ARRL staff members who work with publications and RF Safety issues. Such face-to-face interchanges are valuable to build a relationship that maximizes the efficacy of the committee’s work with respect to influencing the veracity of League publications with respect to RF Safety.
5. Future Plans
1. The committee continues to consider restructuring of the RF Safety text that appears in all ARRL publications. With the text divided into subject areas, it will be possible for future updates of ARRL publications to select different sections that are pertinent to the subject matter of the publication. For instance, it is not necessary to include a discussion of epidemiological research in the RF Safety text of a license manual. The current structure of the subdivision is taken from the outline of the workshop that was scheduled for the IEEE conference. When subdivided in this way, it should also be easier to update sections rather than reviewing the entire document every time a change is made.
2. Mr. Hare, with the help of the committee, plans to develop a pair of RF Safety Committee web pages. One page, made available to the public, will display information about the RF Safety Committee and discuss RF Safety issues that apply to Amateur Radio. Another page, which will be available only to RF Safety Committee members and ARRL staff, will contain draft publications and a collection of Powerpoint slides that committee members use in their RF Safety presentations.
3. Dr. Lapin has been contacted by the organizers of the Dayton Hamvention and has agreed to prepare an RF Safety forum for the 2000 Hamvention.
4. The RF Safety Committee wishes to thank and commend our liaison, Dr. James Maxwell, W6CF, for his support of, and interest in, our activities. Dr. Maxwell has helped to make the operation of this committee run smoothly and effectively. We congratulate Dr. Maxwell on his promotion to Pacific Division Director.

Gregory D. Lapin, Ph.D., P.E., N9GL

1206 Somerset Ave

Deerfield, IL 60015-2819

Robert E. Gold, M.D., WB0KIZ

9197 N. Clydesdale Road

Castle Rock, CO 80104-9102

Gerald Griffin, M.D., K6MD

123 Forest Avenue

Pacific Grove, CA 93950-2619

(Bill) Arthur W. Guy, Ph.D., W7PO

18122 60th Place NE

Seattle, WA 98155-4608

Gary E. Myers, M.S., C.I.H., K9CZB

28W 135 Hillview Drive

Naperville, IL 60564

William Raskoff, M.D., K6SQL

1769 Escalante Way

Burlingame, CA 94010-5807

Kai Siwiak, P.E., Ph.D., KE4PT

10988 NW 14th St

Coral Springs, FL 33071-8222

Jim Maxwell, Ph.D., W6CF

PO Box 473

Redwood Estates, CA 95044

Ed Hare, W1RFI

ARRL Headquarters

225 Main Street

Newington, CT 06111

Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ

ARRL Headquarters

225 Main Street

Newington, CT 06111