Man makes federal case on safety of cell phones
Doctor sues, says device caused his brain cancer
Ever since a Florida man went on Larry King’s cable talk show eight years ago to charge that his wife’s cellular telephone caused a fatal brain tumor, scientists have been scrambling to answer questions about the safety of the popular communication devices.
The lawsuit brought by the Florida widower against his wife’s cell-phone maker was dismissed for lack of evidence a few years later. But the questions have persisted, even as the number of Americans using the convenient gadgets topped 100 million.
Now there is a renewed legal attack on the $45 billion wireless communications industry, and a Maryland man is at the center of it. Christopher J. Newman, a 41-year-old neurologist from Jarrettsville, blames his six-year cell-phone habit for the malignancy in his brain that threatens to kill him.