* Handful of law firms continue to press brain-cancer lawsuits - Enhancement of allergic skin wheal responses by microwave radiation - News from Berkeley, California - The Sound of Things to Come (26/3/03)

Handful of law firms continue to press brain-cancer lawsuits

by JEFFREY SILVA
* March 24, 2003

WASHINGTON-Plaintiffs' lawyers are leaning toward an appeal of U.S.
District Judge Catherine Blake's dismissal of five class-action lawsuits
on headset health protection and say they have no plans to drop a slew
of brain-cancer lawsuits pending before a Baltimore judge who has been
hostile to wireless health litigation and highly supportive of
industry's federal pre-emption arguments.

The legal developments come as two newly published studies by Swedish
scientists, including one whose testimony was debunked in the $800
million cancer suit thrown out by Blake last year, link cell-phone use
to brain tumors.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported data from a conference in Italy pointing to
a 40-percent increase in brain tumors in the United States and Europe in
the past 20 years.

Still, the decision to continue pressing health litigation, despite
Blake's dismissal of Christopher Newman's brain-cancer lawsuit and her
recent headset ruling, remains a high-risk proposition for plaintiffs'
lawyers. The costs can be huge, both in terms of the hundreds of
thousands of dollars in legal expenses and judicial precedent. But those
costs pale in comparison to the risk to industry, which has spent
millions defending itself the past two decades, of losing a single case.

A handful of law firms are pressing the brain-cancer and headset
class-action lawsuits. In some cases, they work together and in others
they do not.

"We intend to go forward," said Jeffrey Morganroth, whose Michigan law
firm represents six brain-cancer victims who have filed lawsuits against
wireless firms, trade associations and standards bodies.

Morganroth conceded the mobile-phone industry has fared well in Blake's
court to date. But he said all brain-cancer cases are not the same and
that the ruling on the Newman case, litigated by the law firm of
Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos and under appeal in a Richmond
circuit, does not necessarily dictate the outcome of his law firm's
cases.

"We have a different philosophy of how to present and package the
cases," said Morganroth. Morganroth said his legal team will be relying
on a different set of experts than those Angelos relied on in the Newman
case. However, it is not clear that Morganroth's experts have committed
to having their research and scientific careers scrutinized by industry
lawyers who were highly effective in undermining testimony of Newman's
experts.

At least one other plaintiff is expressing more caution. Lawyers
representing a Texas brain-cancer victim recently asked Blake to stay
all further proceedings in its lawsuit against wireless firms, pending
the outcome of the Newman appeal in Richmond. The final brief in the
appeal should be filed today. The court then likely will set a date for
oral argument, which is expected to take place later this year.

Elsewhere, RCR Wireless News learned last week that Georgia's Brian
Barrett, a plaintiff in one brain-cancer case before Blake, died last
November. However, the lawsuit will continue on behalf of his estate and
his wife.

Message from Jeff Silva


Enhancement of allergic skin wheal responses by microwave radiation from
mobile phones in patients with atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome.

Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2002 Dec;129(4):348-50
Related Articles,Links

Kimata H.

Department of Allergy, Unitika Central Hospital, Uji, Uji City, Kyoto,
Japan. unitikah@m12.alpha-net.ne.jp

Microwave radiation from mobile phones enhanced skin wheal responses
induced by house dust mite and Japanese cedar pollen while it had no
effect on wheal responses induced by histamine in patients with atopic
eczema/dermatitis syndrome (AEDS). Microwave radiation also increased
plasma levels of substance P (SP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide
(VIP) in patients with AEDS. These results indicate that microwave
radiation from mobile phones may enhance allergen-induced wheal
responses in association with the release of SP and VIP. This finding
may be useful in elucidating the pathophysiology and treatment of AEDS.
Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

PMID: 12483040 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=
PubMed&list_uids=12483040&dopt=Abstract


News from Berkeley, California

You might know by now that groups of neighbors are trying to stop
base-station antennas proposed by Sprint in their residential area. Last
Friday, they filed two sets of addenda to their appeals. They have
strong reasons as why the antennas should not be installed. A big day is
coming for them. It is April 1st, when the City Council will decide on
their appeals. The following e-mail was sent by one of the appellants to
the Mayor of Berkeley and the City Council, as well as neighbors,
friends, activists, media, etc.

Radi

Re: Appeal of Use Permit #02-10000053 (base-station antennas on 1600
Shattuck Avenue)
Appellants: Shahram Shahruz, Frances Strassman, Kaoru Reynolds, Simone
Gaddini, Patricia Cloud, Daniel Wolfe
To: Mayor Tom Bates and Council Members, Margaret Breland, Miriam
Hawley, Linda Maio, Betty Olds, Maudelle Shirek, Dona Spring, Kriss
Worthington, Gordon Wozniak
CC: City Clerk Sherry Kelly and neighbors, friends, media, etc

Dear Mayor Tom Bates and Council Members:

On Friday, March 21, 2003, we filed 21 copies of a set of addenda with
the Office of City Clerk. Each set has 147 pages. We did lots of work to
put the addenda together.

Please note that the addenda is an important part of our appeal.
Therefore, please pay close attention to it. Also, going through the
pages of our addenda could be fun. Some interesting features of the
addenda: - There are many nice photographs in the addenda.

Also, there are more than 700 signatures by neighbors, visitors,
parents, directors of day-care centers, business owners and their
employees, etc,
who oppose the installation of base-station antennas on the roof of the
building at 1600 Shattuck Avenue.

Perhaps, you can find names of a friend or two among the names of
signers.

- Evidence that Sprint PCS has breached the laws pertaining to
telecommunications facilities in several instances.

- Evidence that the Staff Report by the Planning and Development
Department, dated 12/12/2002, erroneously stated that "Two e-mails and
one letter were received in opposition to the project." There were more
than 10 letters and e-mails opposing the project (please see Addendum
6).

This alarms us that the upcoming Staff Report due on 3/27/2003 would
make poor judgment of the points we have made in our appeal or downplay
the community opposition.

Let's hope that the errors of the past get corrected.

Best regards,

Shahram Shahruz, PhD,
Research Scientist
March 24, 2003


NY Times Magazine
March 23, 2003

The Sound of Things to Come
By MARSHALL SELLA

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/magazine/23SOUND.html

Informant Wolfgang W. Scherer


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