
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 4, 1994                   TAG: 9409070041
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: FORT LAUDERDALE SUN-SENTINEL
DATELINE: FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.                                 LENGTH: Short

CELLULAR PHONE STUDY INVALID

Headlines last December declaring cellular telephones safe were based on a study that has since been declared invalid by the researcher who performed it and by other scientists who reviewed it.

The cellular phone industry now says it will be several years before there will be a definitive answer on whether the devices cause brain tumors or other health problems.

``This is a scientific process, and, yes, you find some errors,'' said Dr. George Carlo, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Group on Cellular Telephone Research, which was established by the industry to oversee new research. ``But, as a scientist, I think that's good. It shows the peer-review process is working.''

In January 1993, the industry promised up to $25 million for research, following widespread media coverage of possible health risks.

The CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association) at the time said thousands of studies done over the past 40 years showed the phones posed no health hazard, but Carlo's group has spent the past 18 months reviewing those studies and says they are not enough.

``We have found data gaps, areas where there is insufficient evidence'' to establish whether the radiofrequency radiation emitted by the phones is harmful, Carlo said.

Carlo's group plans to establish a database including as many as 10 million cellular phone users - 3 million have already been identified - for what he described as ``post-market surveillance.''

by CNB