Motorola May Take Legal Action Over Cell Phone Health Claims
Australian Associated Press
April 30, 1997
Journalist: John Kidman
Motorola’s managing director, Ron Nissan, has sent a letter to the protection device maker Microshield asking it to retract certain statements made in its sales brochure. Microshield introduced a cellular phone carrying case in Australia last week that the company says can protect users from as much as 90 percent of the “harmful” emissions coming from cellular phones. The brochure claims that an increasing number of studies are finding that microwave radiation at cellular phone levels can lead to brain damage and possibly asthma, plus aggravate existing cancer. The brochure also claims that other research has discovered that “extremely” low levels of microwave radiation can produce DNA damage. Peter Russell, the executive director of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, says that he has already asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Council to prevent Microshield from distributing the brochure. Russell says Microshield’s “sales pitch is preying on community fears that are not based on sound science.”
