WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, LLC ONGOING SURVEILLANCE

A notable component in the Wireless Technology Research, L.L.C. (WTR) program to assess potential public health risks from wireless communic ation instruments is its inclusion of a rapid trigger for public healt h intervention should a risk be identified. To this end, the WTR perfo rms active surveillance of cellular telephone users by conducting coho rt and care-control studies. To insure that not only risks identified through the WTR's research are assessed, the WTR also continually perf orms passive surveillance of research conducted elsewhere. This resear ch is identified by word of mouth, by attending scientific conferences where new data are presented, by interacting with groups coordinating international research, by conducting a survey of planned and ongoing work, and by reviewing published literature. To date, no need for imm ediate intervention without further study has been identified. Two new areas of research, potential DNA breaks as assessed by the single cel l gel assay and potential interactions between cellular telephones and implanted cardiac pacemakers, have been incorporated into the WTR pro gram as a result of ongoing surveillance.