FOIAengine: Questions from Siri & Glimstad Point to Possible Litigation
Does radiation from cell phones and cell towers affect human health? There has long been controversy around this question, which the federal government has tried to put to rest by issuing findings that there is no clear evidence of a health impact and by refuting earlier studies that found that biological changes associated with radiofrequency radiation. But, as recent Freedom of Information Act requests demonstrate, the controversy isn’t going away.
According to PoliScio Analytics’ competitive-intelligence database FOIAengine, which tracks FOIA requests in as close to real-time as their availability allows, 20 cell phone and cell tower radiation requests have been submitted to the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Health since January of 2021.
Notably, plaintiff’s law firm Siri & Glimstad filed two FOIA requests with the FDA on September 26 seeking information related to the effects of cell phones and towers on human health. The firm has a history of making FOIA requests to the FDA that could help it develop arguments it puts forward in vaccine and other lawsuits. FOIAengine shows that the firm has filed 63 FDA requests so far this year. And the firm is an active litigator, initiating 80 plaintiff’s law suits this year, according to Docket Alarm
For more on Siri & Glimstad see our January 24 article, A Gambit to Allow Covid Vaccine Lawsuits.
The new FOIA requests suggest that Siri & Glimstad is monitoring the issue and may be considering new litigation targeting the health effects of cell phones and cell towers. Readers of this space know that we view FOIA requests to the federal government as signals – early warnings of litigation to come, bad publicity, or uncertainties to be hedged and gamed out.
The first Siri & Glimstad request sought “All communications sent and/or received by Michelle Tarver, Douglas Kelly, Ellen Flannery, and/or Elizabeth Hillebrenner from January 1, 2023, through the date of the search that contain the term(s) ‘radio frequency radiation,’ ‘cell phone,’ ‘RFR,’ and/or ‘EMF.’” The four officials identified in the request are senior staff in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), which is responsible for assuring access to “safe, effective, and high-quality medical devices and safe radiation-emitting products.”
The second request asked for “All documents (including but not limited to articles, reports, grants, etc.) concerning research funded and/or conducted by FDA from August 1, 2023, through the date of the search to study the effects of cell phones and towers on human health.”
Other FOIA requests submitted on the subject since January of 2021 were filed by the Environmental Health Trust (9), Grassroots Environmental Education (4), and Microwave News (2).
In addition, three other requests to the FDA regarding cell phone radiation filed this year came from one or more unidentified organizations. The most recent was submitted on August 23 and requested “All records of communications including emails, letters and attachments to emails to or from Jeffrey Shuren with the search terms of ‘Cell phones’ and or ‘Cell phone’ and or ‘brain tumors’ and or National Toxicology Program and or ‘NTP’ and or ‘radio frequency’ and or ‘RF’ and or ‘radiation’. Please check servers for deleted emails.”
Environmental Health Trust filed six requests in 2023 seeking internal emails, email correspondence, attachments, and other correspondence about cell phone radiation. It’s most recent request to the FDA on December 18, 2023, sought “records of all SAR test reports performed by the Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories on cell phones and compliance with FCC limits.” SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) testing is an evaluation process that measures the amount of electromagnetic radiation absorbed by the human body when exposed to wireless communication devices.
Grassroots Environmental Education submitted four requests in October of 2022 seeking information about the developments at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, which regulates radiation-emitting products.
Microwave News submitted two requests to NIH in August of 2021 seeking communications between NIH’s National Toxicology Program and The New York Times regarding cell phone radiation and cancer.
Notwithstanding these requests, the current consensus within U.S. government agencies is that there is no conclusive evidence that cell phone and cell tower radiation harms human health.
The FDA states that studies reporting biological changes associated with radiofrequency radiation have failed to be replicated and that the majority of human epidemiologic studies have failed to show a relationship between exposure to radiofrequency radiation from cell phones and health problems. The FDA, which originally nominated this exposure for review by the National Toxicology Program in 1999, issued a statement on the draft NTP reports released in February 2018, saying “based on this current information, we believe the current safety limits for cell phones are acceptable for protecting the public health.” The FDA and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) share responsibility for regulating cell phone technologies.
The FDA does acknowledge that “doctors, scientists and engineers continually monitor the scientific studies and public health data for evidence that radio frequency energy from cell phones could cause adverse health effects. If a credible risk is detected, the FDA will work closely with other federal partners to mitigate the risk.”
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that no scientific evidence definitively answers whether cell phone use causes cancer, but it also states that “more research is needed before we know if using cell phones causes health effects.”
The FCC concludes that currently no scientific evidence establishes a definite link between wireless device use and cancer or other illnesses.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) states that the weight of the current scientific evidence has not conclusively linked cell phone use with any adverse health problems, but says more research is needed.
The American Cancer Society isn’t so sure. Its cell phones page states “It is not clear at this time that RF (radiofrequency) waves from cell phones cause dangerous health effects in people, but studies now being done should give a clearer picture of the possible health effects in the future.”
Some researchers, advocacy organizations, school boards, and municipalities strongly disagree with the federal agencies.
The Environmental Health Trust argues that “a significant body of peer reviewed research has found harmful effects from cell tower radiation.” EHT contends that its effects “include increased cancer risk, cellular stress, headaches, sleep issues, genetic damage, changes to the reproductive system, memory deficits, and impacts to the nervous system.” The organization also notes that a number of schools boards no longer allow cell towers on or near schools, many cities and towns have enacted laws to restrict cell tower antennas near homes and schools, and that cell tower radiation is classified as “High Risk” by insurance companies.
ProPublica, an independent non-profit newsroom, published an article in on January 4, 2023, arguing that “a growing body of scientific research is raising questions, with the stakes heightened by the ongoing deployment of hundreds of thousands of new transmitters in neighborhoods across America.”
Those concerned about cell phone and tower radiation also point to research in 2011 by The International Agency for Research on Cancer which classified cell phone radiation as a “possible human carcinogen” that could cause cancer and urged “additional research into the long-term, heavy use of mobile phones.”
The World Health Organization takes a middle ground, stating that the risk of mobile phones is “not established,” but urges “further research of mobile phone use and brain cancer risk.” It continues, “With the recent popularity of mobile phone use among younger people, and therefore a potentially longer lifetime of exposure, WHO has promoted further research on this group and is currently assessing the health impact of RF fields on all studied endpoints.”
FOIAengine access now is available for all professional members of Investigative Reporters and Editors, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of journalism. IRE is the world’s oldest and largest association of investigative journalists. Following the federal government’s shutdown of FOIAonline.gov last year, FOIAengine is the only source for the most comprehensive, fully searchable archive of FOIA requests across dozens of federal departments and agencies. FOIAengine has more robust functionality and searching capabilities and standardizes data from different agencies to make it easier to work with. PoliScio Analytics is proud to be partnering with IRE to provide this valuable content to investigative reporters worldwide.
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Randy E. Miller, co-creator of FOIAengine, is a Washington lawyer, publisher, and former government official. He has developed several online information products and was a partner at Hogan Lovells, where he founded the firm’s Brussels office and represented clients on international regulatory matters. Miller also has served as a White House trade lawyer, Senior Legal Adviser to the U.S. Mission to the World Trade Organization, policy director to Senator Bob Dole, and adjunct professor at Georgetown University. He is a graduate of Yale and Georgetown Law. FOIAengine is a product of PoliScio Analytics (PoliScio.com), a venture specializing in U.S. political and governmental research, co-founded by Miller and Washington journalist John A. Jenkins. Learn more about FOIAengine here. Sign up here to become a trial user of FOIAengine.
Write to Randy E. Miller at [email protected].
