In his book Who Really Matters: The Core Group Theory of Power, Privilege, and Success (Doubleday, 2003), Art Kleiner, editor-in-chief of strategy+business, observes that the mobile phone industry could very well be at the crossroads the tobacco industry once stumbled across. Starting when the first definitive studies linking smoking to lung cancer were published in 1953, Kleiner writes, cigarette companies denied the health risks of smoking. Their decision “to deny, market, obfuscate, conceal and fight” worked for the short term. But by refusing to take the moral high ground and go public with the information (and, consequently, not repositioning the cigarette business by, say, marketing the concept of smoking in moderation), tobacco companies ultimately faced skyrocketing legal fees and fines, as well as a public reputation as “merchants of death.”
The Proactive Path
The mobile phone industry could avoid that fate. Taking cues from the cigarette industry’s mistakes and being proactive, the smart cellular phone manufacturers might manage to build market share and increase user loyalty. Mark Anderson, who publishes the online newsletter Strategic News Service, suggests a proactive plan for cellular phone executives:
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Make sure your engineers and designers are the most exposed, aware group in the industry.
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Design cell phones for health first, in all segments. “Guess what,” says Anderson. “If you can position your company on this high ground before anyone else, two things happen: First, you get lots of business, and second, all your competitors look bad and lose share. It is a win-lose, and you win.”
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Make sure that all cell phones are sold with head sets or ear microphones in the box. Make these accessories easy to use and ergonomically appealing.
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In fact, sell children’s cell phones that will operate only when a head set or ear mike is attached. Include extra ear mikes in the box. Make them easy to replace.
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Since your lawyers won’t let you say why you are including these devices, just say that “smart users use them.”
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In the end, it might be necessary to invest more in researching the health impact of non-ionizing cell phone radiation. The technological underpinnings of cell phones might need to be redesigned.
“None of this bad news is going to go away,” Anderson warns, “but the first one to become proactive might take serious market share away from the other hundred companies still in complete denial.”
Carl Hilliard, president of the California-based nonprofit Wireless Consumers Alliance, counts at least 20 patents that suggest promising advances in reducing EMF exposure. Hilliard, who was an attorney for AirSignal before it was acquired by Cellular One, says: “If I were still advising clients in the industry, I’d suggest that they look into doing research on the near field” — the health effects located close to the source of transmission. “We don’t know what goes on in the near field,” he explains. “What happens there is tumultuous.” In the meantime, Hilliard says, he too would urge including head sets or ear mikes in the packaging. “I always use a hands-free phone,” he notes.
Failing to be proactive might lead the mobile industry down Tobacco Road. In the United States, the number of class-action suits is growing. Hilliard counts eight lawsuits specifically related to the health hazards of cell phones currently making their ways through the courts. Last year, he successfully represented a woman who claimed that a brain tumor was caused by radio-frequency radiation at her job; a California judge awarded workers’ compensation of $30,000 plus approximately $100,000 in health and related damages.
“I think claims against the wireless industry will follow the same long path that you saw in the cigarette industry,” Hilliard adds. “There is a significant difference, however: The cigarette companies kept making the cigarettes more addictive and stronger, despite mounting scientific evidence of the risks. Cell phone companies are already trying to reduce power levels in cell phones by increasing the number of towers. It’s a Hobbesian choice.”
