TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – It started with a lawsuit filed by a Florida man in 1993, alleging that his wife had died from a brain tumor caused by cell phone use. Now, U.S. Senator and brain cancer survivor Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania will hold hearings today, while an international conference, also in Washington, looks at whether using your cell phone could be making you sick.

Dr. Devra Davis, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, is organizing the conference and testifying at the hearings.

“I can’t tell you for sure that cell phones are dangerous, but I have lots of good reasons for concern, and my concerns are shared by the governments of Finland and France and Israel and China and some of the states of India.”

Many kids now carry cell phones, and Davis says children appear to be even more vulnerable than adults to cell phone radiation waves.

“We know that they get more deeply into the brains of children than adults. There are debates about the exact nature of the models that you use, but there is no debate that a child’s brain is not only smaller but much more sensitive than that of an adult.”

Davis says there is no research on possible radiation danger from mobile phones currently being done in the United States, but placing a fee of 25 cents to a dollar on each cell phone sold here, could change that by funding such research.

The cell phone industry says the small amount of radiation generated by the phones is not enough to cause any harm, basing the claim on the still-to-to-be-released 13-country Interphone study. A recent report from the International EMF (Electric-Magnetic Field) Collaborative says however that that study made a number of mistakes, including categorizing as unexposed people who used portable or cordless phones, which like cell phones emit microwave radiation, and failing to include many types of brain tumors.

Lloyd Morgan, one of the report’s authors, developed a brain tumor in 1995, something his doctor said was probably caused by his work as an electronics engineer.

“Bottom line is, cell phones are causing brain tumors. If you look at the independent research, it’s absolutely clear. If you look at the telecom industry-funded research it’s spun such that it would appear that there are no risks.”

Information on the cell phone hearing: The Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies, will meet in open session at 2 p.m. on Monday, September 14, 2009, in Room SD-138, Dirksen Senate Office Building.