CONSUMER WATCH : Cellular Hysteria

It was a single lawsuit that set off panic and fear about cellular radio phones from Main Street to Wall Street. Suddenly about 10 million American users found themselves wondering if the devices were health hazards. Worried investors sold off stock in companies that make the phones.

All because of a Florida widower who filed a lawsuit alleging that a cellular phone had caused the brain cancer that killed his wife. The husband hit the talk show circuit, causing a media sensation despite the lack of any conclusive, or even persuasive, evidence connecting tumors and the radiation levels emitted by cellular phones.

Phones with built-in transmitters emit high-frequency radio waves; at present, such electromagnetic waves are not known to harm living cells. Even so, the National Cancer Institute now is saying it will review U.S. brain cancer cases to determine whether there is any link to cellular phone use.

On Tuesday the Food and Drug Administration said that it will soon issue its first advisory on cellular phones, one that will caution consumers against excessive use of the phones and unnecessary exposure to their antennas. It recommends using models with antennas positioned outside the car instead of the portable or pocket-size versions that have become so popular.

A number of common electric gadgets have been linked to diseases in a series of recent scares. But in none of these cases was there such intense reaction; clearly, the cellular phone scare is not a result of the evidence.