A Real Hero: George Carlo, PhD
by Milt Bowling
Source: Health Action Magazine Fall 2006
Webster's Dictionary defines hero as: "a man of exceptional quality who wins admiration by noble deeds, especially deeds of courage." George Carlo is such a man.
In 1993, the wireless industry was sued by a Florida man whose wife died from a brain tumour. He alleged that her fatal illness was caused by her constant use of her cell phone. Although the case was eventually lost years later, the negative publicity caused the US Congress to hold hearings on the subject of cell phones and brain cancer. Through the process of the Congressional hearings, it became clear that the wireless industry had not been required to do pre-market testing or any post market surveillance on health effects of cell phones. The industry had just assumed that the technology was perfectly safe.
After these hearings, they realized that they could only sidestep hard regulation by the Food and Drug Administration by volunteering to conduct research on the scientific verification that cell phones' exposure was benign. The industry cut the deal with the government – the industry puts up the money for the research and the FDA waits for the results before deciding whether or not to regulate. And they needed a scientist with recognized credentials to run the program – to manage not only the research, but also regulatory aspects and the public relations.
The scientist they picked was Dr George Carlo. After all, he was a world recognized medical scientist, author and lawyer. His career spanned thirty years, with more than 150 medical, scientific and public policy publications in the areas of public health, workplace safety and consumer protection. He was well respected in Washington, having served on several government committees, worked with several government agencies, and was often sought by the news media to opine on issues related to public health and consumer safety. He was just the man to oversee the surveillance and conduct the studies. The industry expected that they had found the man who would give them the all-clear.
So, in 1993 Dr. Carlo was put in charge of what became a 6 year, $28.5 million surveillance and research program that in the industry's mind, was to prove that cell phones were safe. It took years to set up the research and to develop proper protocols, and at first the results looked reassuring to the industry. But by 1998, some troubling findings were emerging. Dr Carlo was in the difficult position of having to tell the wireless industry news they didn't want to hear. Their technology could be very dangerous. He also told them they needed to do more research to pursue these troubling findings, to get at the truth.
So that there would be no perceived conflicts regarding his motivation, Dr Carlo clearly indicated that he was going to step down from his position so that the funds could be given to someone "without the perception of an agenda." However, when Dr Carlo rebuffed their offers of financial reward in exchange for being quiet, instead of providing the needed funding to whoever Dr Carlo's successor would be, the industry began an all out program to distance themselves from Dr Carlo and his findings. Rumors were started about both his professional and his personal life. Fabricated stories of impropriety were planted on the Internet. His divorce records were made public. And then the personal attacks began. He was threatened financially and physically. Finally, his house was destroyed by arson.
He was forced to go underground for a few years, for both his personal safety and mental well-being. But by the end of 2004, studies that had been conducted under the oversight of the European Union not only verified Dr Carlo's findings, but added new data making it clear that mobile phones were indeed dangerous.
I first heard of Dr Carlo in 1997, when I became an EMF advocate. In 1998, he wrote a very pointed letter to C Michael Armstrong, Chair of AT&T, and to the other CEOs of the corporations which funded his work, warning them not to take the same route as the tobacco industry did, in buying science and giving falseconfidence that there were no adverse health effects.
This letter was leaked to the media, and eventually made it to the Internet. Television news magazines picked up the story and by the end of 1999, Dr Carlo was in an open war of wills with the entire global wireless industry. When Dr Carlo went public with his findings, and then stood his ground against the attacks of the industry, it gave every activist and advocate a much needed boost in confidence. If Dr Carlo, who had been viewed as an industry "hired gun", saw enough danger to put his contrary opinions in writing, then activists were confirmed in having been right all along.
In 2001, Dr Carlo co-wrote, with Washington syndicated columnist Martin Schram, Cell Phones: Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age. The acclaimed book, which is printed in five languages, tells the story of this classic clash between science and the politics of power and profits. The work of Dr Carlo, who remains the Chairman of the non-profit Science and Public Policy Institute in Washington, DC, is the subject of a Hollywood docudrama to be released in 2007.
Over the years, I have known Dr Carlo – first as the "industry's hired gun", later as a source of data to help me with my work in furthering the cause of public health, and most recently as a working colleague. When you work next to someone, you get to know what they are made of. Not many people have the courage to stand up for what they believe in. Not many have the courage to stand up to their employer, let alone a trillion dollar industry.
Dr Carlo is, simply put, a hero.
HANS consultant and member Milt Bowling is President of the Clean Energy Foundation,
http://www.cleanenergycanada.com, which works with the public, industry and government for better regulations and safer technology.
Tobacco is the number one preventable cause of death in the world these days. I'm happy to debate this issue (or should I say non-issue) further!!! Regarding emf the jury is certainly out on this one, but it is certainly possible that cellular damage could occur. Just no smoking wires yet!
