WORRIED ABOUT YOUR WIRELESS? ABC News, 20/20 - 10-20-1999 DIANE SAWYER: Tonight we are going to be raising new questions about the safety of cell phones. You'll remember there were alarming reports a few years ago about brain cancer, but they were quickly dismissed. Well, tonight, some scientists are going to speak out, and it could change the way you use your cell phone. CHARLES GIBSON: The cell phone industry has always said that there are no known health effects associated with even excessive use of their product. But now the man who ran the industry's research program is breaking ranks and saying something very different. He's saying that the possibility of harm is very real. Listen carefully to what chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross discovered. BRIAN ROSS reporting: (Voiceover) From Los Angeles to London, few people spend more time on the phone than the flamboyant British billionaire Richard Branson. (Aerial photo of Los Angeles; traffic; Richard Branson with phone in car) RICHARD BRANSON: Hello, this is Richard Branson? ROSS: (Voiceover) The man who created the Virgin Records and Virgin Air business empires, the man who four times tried to go around the world in a hot air balloon, Richard Branson has become rich and famous by taking lots of risks. But one risk he says he won't take is with his cell phone. (Branson opening champagne bottle; Virgin Air airplane; hot air balloon, Branson in hot air balloon; Branson driving in car) BRANSON: You do not put the phone up to your ear, because it could fry your brain. ROSS: (Voiceover) Branson won't put a cell phone anywhere near his head, using a small headset contraption instead. (Branson demonstrating headset) BRANSON: There is the phone, there's the earpiece. And you just keep the-keep the phone away from the body and put the earpi-put the earpiece in either ear. And you've got the little microphone here, and you can talk. ROSS: (Voiceover) It's something he's done ever since a close friend, who was a heavy user of cell phones, died from brain cancer. The $200 billion a year cell phone industry maintains the scientific evidence doesn't support any such fears. But it turns out Richard Branson is not alone in his belief that cellular phones can no longer be presumed to be safe. (Branson in car; cellular phone production equipment; cellular phones on display; cellular phones in production) DR. CARLO: I'm on this thing every day. ROSS: In fact, even the man who, six years ago, was brought in by the industry to quell such fears, Dr. George Carlo, is now prepared to publicly say that has been the case all along. (Dr. George Carlo walking with Brian Ross) DR. CARLO: You can not guarantee that cell phones are safe. That's absolutely true, but that has always been true. ROSS: (Voiceover) When cell phones first came out, it was widely assumed there couldn't be a risk because the power or radiation they produce was so low. But now that assumption is very much being called into question by several new scientific studies, which, while still preliminary, are regard by some scientists as quite troubling. The cell phone transmits a microwave signal from the antenna to a base station or tower, often miles away. The farther away from the tower, or if the phone is inside a building or a car, the more power this phone is told by the tower to send out to make or keep the connection. Depending on how close the cell phone antenna is, as much as 60 percent of the microwave radiation is absorbed by and actually penetrates the area around the head, some reaching an inch to an inch and a half into the brain. (Electronics inside cellular phone; graphic depicting radiation emitted by cellular phone) DR. ROSS ADEY: And if I hold it to my head like this, there is no way I can avoid getting a sizable amount of that energy in my head and my hand. ROSS: (Voiceover) Dr. Ross Adey, at the University of California Riverside, is widely regarded as one of, if not the most, respected scientist in the field, a man who has worked for industry and government for decades studying microwave radiation. (Dr. Ross Adey working in laboratory; photo of Adey) DR. ADEY: This is the first generation that has put relatively high-powered transmitters against the head day after day after day. ROSS: (Voiceover) Choosing his words carefully for this interview with 20/20, Dr. Adey says the body of research, while still far from conclusive, raises the possibility of some very serious harm from extensive exposure to cell phones. (Adey in interview) Dr. ADEY: The picture that's emerging is that, over the lifetime of the individual, you may see changes that could be considered health effects or potential health risks. ROSS: Including? DR. ADEY: Including leukemia and brain tumors. ROSS: Those are scary words-brain tumors, leukemia? DR. ADEY: I understand. And I think, responsibly, one has to bring those into the forefront. ROSS: (Voiceover) Which may come as quite a surprise to the more than 80 million Americans and some 300 million more around the world who use cell phones. (People walking and talking on cellular phones) UNIDENTIFIED MAN # #1: Just thought I'd check in for messages. ROSS: (Voiceover) And who heard similar concerns six years ago dismissed as unfounded scares. (People walking and talking on cellular phones) UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Hi. Happy birthday. THOMAS WHEELER: I believe that the cellular phone is safe. ROSS: (Voiceover) Thomas Wheeler is the president of the cell phone industry's trade group in Washington, DC. (Thomas Wheeler in interview) WHEELER: Our industry has gone out and aggressively asked the question, 'Can we find a problem?' And the answer that has come back is that there is nothing that has come up in the research that suggests that there is a linkage between the use of a wireless phone and health effects. DR. LOUIS SLESIN: Nonsense, in a word. Simple nonsense. ROSS: (Voiceover) Dr. Louis Slesin is the editor of Microwave News, a widely read and influential trade newsletter which tracks the cell phone business, and frequently criticizes what Slesin says is the industry's attempt to ignore or spin troublesome scientific findings. DR. SLESIN: This is about PR, not about science.