Uploaded October 2010 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Part 5 of a 5-part talk. Presented by Prof. Christopher Davis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland.
Despite an overwhelming preponderance of evidence to the contrary, there continues to be some public concern that human exposure to radio frequency (RF) radiation from cell phones and base stations, even at relatively low levels, can constitute a health hazard. The media seize on any report of a possible health risk based on occasional reports of biological effects being produced by RF radiation, but ignore the much larger number of studies that find nothing. This talk will review the science underlying our understanding of how RF radiation can interact with biological systems and discuss why public concern about the health risk from cell phones and base stations is irrational. The claimed connection between cell phone use and cancer will be examined, and some of the legal cases that have kept the cell phone health controversy alive. A specific interaction mechanism that will be discussed is the possibility of nonlinearity in cells and tissue that might demodulate an RF carrier.
Christopher C. Davis is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received the B.A. degree (with Honors) in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge in 1965, the M.A. degree from the University of Cambridge in 1970, and the Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of Manchester in 1970. He has served as a scientific consultant to several US Government agencies and industry. He is a member of the IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee SCC-34 SC2, which deals with RF exposure from wireless devices.
Views expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Capital Area Skeptics.
Part 5 of a 5-part talk. Presented by Prof. Christopher Davis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland.
Despite an overwhelming preponderance of evidence to the contrary, there continues to be some public concern that human exposure to radio frequency (RF) radiation from cell phones and base stations, even at relatively low levels, can constitute a health hazard. The media seize on any report of a possible health risk based on occasional reports of biological effects being produced by RF radiation, but ignore the much larger number of studies that find nothing. This talk will review the science underlying our understanding of how RF radiation can interact with biological systems and discuss why public concern about the health risk from cell phones and base stations is irrational. The claimed connection between cell phone use and cancer will be examined, and some of the legal cases that have kept the cell phone health controversy alive. A specific interaction mechanism that will be discussed is the possibility of nonlinearity in cells and tissue that might demodulate an RF carrier.
Christopher C. Davis is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received the B.A. degree (with Honors) in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge in 1965, the M.A. degree from the University of Cambridge in 1970, and the Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of Manchester in 1970. He has served as a scientific consultant to several US Government agencies and industry. He is a member of the IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee SCC-34 SC2, which deals with RF exposure from wireless devices.
Views expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Capital Area Skeptics.
