Nearly a third of Canadians say they’re concerned about health effects of everyday use of cellphones, WiFi, Smart Meters and other products that emit radiation, says in-house research by the Department of Health. Regulators have consistently maintained wireless devices pose no danger to human health..According to Blacklock's Reporter, when asked, “how concerned are you about daily or regular usage of products like these that emit various forms of radiation?” 31% of Canadians surveyed said they were concerned. “Many expected the Government of Canada to continue to protect Canadians from the radiation risk,” said the research Attitudes, Knowledge And Expectations About Radiation Risk From Exposure To Radiation Emitting Devices..Researchers said the survey was intended to counter “dissemination of misinformation and disinformation regarding the health risks posed by these technologies.” Findings were based on questionnaires with 5,000 people nationwide. The health department paid The Strategic Counsel $100,033 for the survey..“Overall most survey respondents were not particularly concerned about daily or regular use of products,” said Radiation Risk. A majority of people surveyed, 54% said they used their cellphone “all the time” and held the phone directly to their ear..The health department has repeatedly assured Parliament that radio waves from wireless devices pose no danger to the public. “I’m confident they do not represent a risk,” Andrew Adams, then-director of the department’s environmental and radiation health sciences directorate, said in 2015 testimony at the House of Commons health committee..“When it comes to cancers, I’m not a physician so I can’t comment from a strong knowledge base here, but there are many types. How would they be associated with a particular cause?”.Access To Information records obtained in 2015 detailed in-house memos in which Department of Health managers discussed public fears of cancer risks from wireless devices..“As a father of two children and a member of my own community I understand concerns with respect to cell towers,” wrote Art Thansandote, then-chief of the electromagnetics division at the health department’s radiation health sciences directorate. “However as a scientist I must take a look at the issue from a scientific point of view.”.“There is no evidence that using a cellphone causes brain tumours,” wrote Thansandote. “Public exposure to radiofrequency energy from cellular base stations, e.g. cellphone towers, is at a much lower level than that from cellphones. Worse case exposure levels emitted from these devices are typically thousands of times below those specified in science-based exposure standards.”.Then-Conservative MP Terence Young (Oakville, Ont.) in 2014 introduced private bill C-648 to force manufacturers to label cellphones and other wireless devices with health warnings. “If there is no risk to holding a phone to your head or putting it in your pocket, why is the industry burying warnings where no one will see them?” Young said in an earlier interview..The measure would have required manufacturers and retailers to place large labels on packaging for devices from Wi-Fi units to baby monitors under threat of $100,000 fines. The bill lapsed in 2015.
