Israeli cell phone company to compensate customer who contracted cancer

Vatic Note:  I find it interesting, since the FCC in the USA has instructed decision making bodies to not make a decision against cell towers inclusion in residential neighborhoods, based on health reasons.   And since they are forbidden to decline and application for such reasons, then they should not take any testimony on health reasons for the decline.   That is a violation of the American peoples right to redress grievances that is protected under the first amendment, not to mention, "freedom of speech".   This is an interesting perspective.

Right now, we just found out that part of the reason for putting a cell tower within our residential neighborhood was for the smart meters and not just dropped calls by tourists. We all know the controversy over smart meters and their health problems, so this is just a continuation of that problem and the feds, through the FCC, decided to use the 1996 telecommunications act to thwart legit hearings on public imput with respect to health issues.

Can you imagine, not only cell phones, but now smart meters and add in the towers they need to operate those meters as a global spy grid, so we will be depopulated at the same time.   Very clever indeed, but we will see.  Will let you know how it goes.

Partner Communications, which operates in Israel under the name Orange, will pay NIS $400,000 to a customer who contracted cancer in his ear.
http://www.electrosmogprevention.org/cell-phone-safety-campaign/israeli-cell-phone-company-to-compensate-customer-who-contracted-cancer/

By Hila Raz and Amitai Ziv | Mar.03, 2013 | 3:00 PM Haareetz/Israel

The customer, who is in his 50s, sued Partner in May, claiming that intensive use of the device resulted in an aggressive lymphoma near his left ear. Partner agreed to pay NIS 400,000 in an out-of-court compromise settlement. The customer is an attorney who had converted the secure room – a reinforced room that doubles as a bomb shelter and is common in most new Israeli homes – into an office. He claimed that he conducted a great deal of phone calls and business from the room, where cellular reception was low. In places without good phone reception, such as elevators and secure rooms, the electromagnetic radiation from cellular phones is higher than usual.

Partner’s move in the settlement is rare and could set a precedent for further lawsuits. Photo by Dan Keinan

 

 

Partner’s settlement is a rare act. The company says they opted to pay the customer as a humanitarian gesture, saying in a statement, “The company is very meticulous about adhering to the guidelines of the World Health Organization, the Health Ministry, the Communications Ministry and all the relevant bodies. No scientific or medical basis was found to the claim and it was rejected by the court. Beyond the letter of the law, in light of [the man's] personal story, the company decided on an exceptional humanitarian gesture. We wish him good health.”
 

Regardless of their statement, the customer’s lawsuit included a medical opinion linking mobile phone use and his disease, which raises questions about Partner. Was it concerned the opinion would be legally validated if the case when to court? Was it worried about a precedent? Did it prefer to sign the compromise agreement to save face in the media?
 

Israel’s other cellular companies have less to fear from lawsuits because their rules are relatively strict when held up alongside international standards. Every device comes with a brochure detailing safety precautions, which include using an earpiece and refraining from talking in locations with poor reception.
 

Israelis are among the heaviest cell phone users in the world. According to a Partner report issued last week, its customers speak for 450 minutes a month on average. Customers with unlimited packages speak for about 700 minutes a month.
 

The debate about radiation damages has been around since the establishment of the cellular companies. Until now most of the battle has been over radiation from antennas. The present compromise is unusual because it focuses on radiation from the cellular device itself. Two months ago a survey found increasing evidence of the link between the use of cell phones and brain tumors.

This particular settlement by Partner is liable to have an effect on cell phone companies and open the floodgates to a barrage of individual and class-action lawsuits, providing plenty of work for lawyers specializing in the field.

Following a ruling in the United States requiring tobacco companies to pay damages for cancer patients who had smoked, lawsuits poured in and the value of tobacco companies plummeted as a result.

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