WEBVTT

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“There are studies that point to problems or potential
problems; and there are studies that yield no results.”

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But the industry uses these studies as proof that
cell phones are safe. That's scientific fraud!" (…)

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The association representing the mobile communications
industry as a whole called a press conference and said:

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Don't worry, we have thousands of
studies showing that there's no problem.

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And one of the journalists was brave enough to ask, “Can we take
a look at them?” But then he didn’t have anything to show. (…)

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“I also know of researchers who were actually working on this and
who said: ‘I never want to do any more research on

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cell phone radiation, because if I discover that
it’s harmful to health, the lobby will destroy me.’

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Klaus Scheidsteger, the author and
filmmaker, is also an investigative journalist.

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He was part of the first graduating class of the
journalism program at the University of Dortmund.

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After completing his internship at Westdeutscher Rundfunk in
Cologne, he moved to France for four years to work as a freelance

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writer and produced his first documentary
film in 1982—a portrait of the English author

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Anthony Burgess, who wrote *A Clockwork Orange*.

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As early as the mid-1980s, he founded a TV production company in
his hometown of Essen and then used his own camera and studio

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equipment to produce news segments, feature
stories, and documentaries for the public

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broadcasters ARD and ZDF, as well as for RTL and Sat.1.

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And later, the German-French cultural channel ARTE joins the
list; he delivers ready-to-air content to ARTE both directly

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through ARTE Strasbourg and in coproduction with
ARTE partner stations such as NDR, BR, and MDR,

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as well as ZDF, as part of the "Portraits" series.

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And in 2006, his first in-depth report on the topic of mobile
communications, commissioned by the French public broadcaster

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FR2, was released under the title “Portables au Accusation.”

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I'd translate it as "cell phones in the dock"—is that okay?

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ARD's German co-production partner, MDR, then
simply cut its segment without consulting anyone.

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We can already see just how popular it is on public
broadcasters—it was quickly aired as part of

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the morning lineup under the title *The Cell
Phone War*, without any prior announcement.

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However, the 50-minute film would offer a truly
in-depth look at the legal battle waged by brain tumor

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patients against the entire cell phone industry in the U.S.

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Ten years later, the first feature-length documentary,
titled "Thank You for Calling," was released,

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followed in 2018 by the book of the same name on the subject.

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And in May 2024, he released another film, *The Digital Dilemma*.

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This film caused quite a stir at its preview screening
at the European Parliament in Brussels and is now

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available online in four languages and in select theaters.

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Klaus Scheidsteger is the co-initiator of the ATHEM-3 mobile
phone study, which has caused a stir in international scientific

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circles as the basis for various international lawsuits.

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And you can learn more about him at www.das-digitale-dilemma.de

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And as vice chair of the MWGFD, I am more than grateful that we
were able to bring you, dear Klaus, on board with the MWGFD, and

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I am now looking forward to your presentation titled “Between
Downplaying, Ignorance, and Deliberate Misinterpretation—Mobile

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Phone Issues in the Media.” The floor is yours.

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Thank you very much. Yes, for me, too, it’s
a tremendous honor to be here with you all.

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Well, I think your work is fantastic, and I don't
think you should limit yourself to just one subject area.

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I've been working my way into this for over 20 years now, and
I've met so many wonderful people who are sitting here with us.

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And that's actually the kind of thing that drives
me and is also one of the reasons I'm still at it.

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With that in mind, perhaps I should start by
saying that I also have a few short video clips.

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For that, I'd need a remote control
like that—Klaus still has it. Thank you.

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And he had recently mentioned feeling a certain amount
of frustration. I felt that way from time to time, too.

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But if we join forces, if we just realize
that so much is going wrong and so much is being

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done wrong, maybe we’ll have a chance again.

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But we still can't really count on the
so-called mainstream media at the moment.

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But I took the liberty of sharing a little bit about my own
experience so that you can better understand these connections.

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So, my very first trip is to America.

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Older viewers might still remember *The Larry King Show*.

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That was truly a talk show that went
global—it was broadcast in over 100 countries.

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And today, looking back at the history of mobile communications,
there was a time—starting in 1992—when we were essentially fully

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digital—with GSM, which stands for Global
System for Mobile Communications, so to speak; that

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was 2G, and it went digital starting in 1992.

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A year later, Larry King had a
guest on his show, and the guest said:

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My wife has a brain tumor now. She always
used to hold her cell phone up to her ear.

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And I'm going to sue Motorola now.

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Motorola was the market leader at the time, and within a week—as
a result of this media report (which is perhaps why

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one might conclude that they are reluctant to address
this issue)—Motorola’s stock price fell by 10 percent.

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Of course, these are extreme losses.

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In response, the Cellular Telephone Industry Association—then
known as CTIA—which represents the entire mobile

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communications industry, held a press conference and stated:

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Don't worry—we have thousands of
studies showing that there's no problem.

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And one of the journalists was brave
enough to ask, "Can we take a look at them?"

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And then he had nothing to offer.

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But then, just a few weeks later, the "Dr.
George Carlo story," so to speak, began.

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Because this man was then commissioned to conduct
research for over six years to demonstrate that there

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are actually no problems with cellular communications.

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And this Dr. George Carlo particularly piqued my journalistic
interest because it turned out that, during his time working on

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behalf of the industry—with a research budget of
28.5 million—he had discovered something that,

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unfortunately, wasn’t very convenient for the industry.

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And that was also the birth of what is known as a "wargame memo."

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That was a lobbying and public relations firm called
Burson-Marsteller, working on behalf of Motorola, which then

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advised on how to deal with critical scientific research.

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And that, for example, leads into
the realm of discrediting science.

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That's a pattern we'll be able to
recognize here later on as well.

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Carlo had two areas of expertise: he was a
scientist—specifically, a medical scientist—and he was a lawyer.

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And what really motivated me to meet this man in person was the
fact that, behind the scenes, he advises the lawyers who—since

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2001 and continuing to this day—have been trying to use legal
action to help brain tumor patients reach the same level of

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compensation we once achieved with tobacco and asbestos cases.

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If you’d like, I’d like to briefly touch on this documentary
again, because that first work—a journalistic film—that Ronny was

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kind enough to mention was, in fact, still airing on France 2.

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And let me tell you, on the day the show
aired in May 2006, someone called me and said:

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We have to make some changes because of legal pressure.

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So U.S. cell phones have to take the stand first… because—well,
everything’s fine on our end, or something like that.

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So the lawyers got involved.

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I also mentioned Motorola, so they had to bleep
out the company name, and at the end, the credits

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had to say, “The WHO has everything under control.”

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So there really aren't any problems.

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So that's how the work is done—which is what ultimately
led to this outcome, as Ronny had kindly mentioned earlier.

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In fact, ARD was scheduled to air this very same report.

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So, to start with, it was actually a wonderful collaboration.

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But then that year—we're talking about 2006—the Bundesliga
broadcasting rights—sponsored by T-Mobile—returned to ARD.

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And that’s why it was possible to address such critical
issues—and let me briefly share with you something that Dr.

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George Carlo—who, as I mentioned, is also under
legal scrutiny and can’t just say anything—had to

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say in his article, following a brief introduction.

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I've put together a few short video clips,
because that might help lighten the mood a bit.

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I first met the man who had been awarded the attractive
research grant from the CTIA to conduct research for six

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years in the summer of 2005, through Bob's introduction.

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Dr. George Carlo, a medical scientist and lawyer,
founded the Institute for Wireless Technology Research (WTA).

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They should provide scientific
proof that cell phones are harmless.

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But the industry had hired the wrong man—one who
continues to expose the truth without mercy even today.

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“There are studies that point to problems or potential problems;
and there are studies that yield no conclusive results.”

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"But the industry uses these studies as proof
that cell phones are safe. That's scientific fraud!"

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Yes, well, that might be one reason, too.

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At least he was allowed to say that, so to speak,
and it wasn't censored in France—unlike in Germany.

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Then came the next step, which was
very interesting for me to observe.

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That was the reflex study by
Professor Adlkofer that I mentioned earlier.

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And then *Der Spiegel* jumped on the story, and as we'll see
in a moment, there was also a certain gentleman involved—who,

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by the way, is also from Bremen—whom we all like very much.

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He's down there, and then she was accused—by one of
the professor's assistants—of having fabricated those

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studies—which gave the whole thing a whole new twist.

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So, a sort of love story was told here about this man from Bremen,
a Professor Lerchl, who will come into his own again later on.

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He's one of those people who essentially acts as a
lobbyist and simply doesn't live up to his scientific expertise.

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He really is a very special person.

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We can also find this Wargaming,
so to speak, in the same context.

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It always comes into play whenever science
uncovers something that could be dangerous to industry.

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And in this case, this study—the reflex
study—was then analyzed in a truly systematic manner.

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And I ended up finding a journalist for that at *Profil*
in Vienna—it was, so to speak, the “little *Spiegel*.”

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And she just objected to that.

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That actually brought the story to light.

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And in my opinion, the whole story is so clear in this
condensed form because we can see here how

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manipulation takes place—simply through lies and misinformation.

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And first up, we have the journalist.

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“I also know of researchers who were really involved in that area
and who said: ‘I never want to do any more research

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on cell phone radiation, because if I discover that
it’s harmful to health, the lobby will destroy me.’”

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So there really are concerns among scientists who simply
don't want to have anything to do with this research anymore.

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"This has become a hot-button issue because they're afraid
that they'll be destroyed not only professionally but

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also, in some cases, personally—just as happened in Vienna."

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In fact, a clear pattern has emerged since the 1994 Wargame memo.

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All the scientists who identified a problem with the
microwave radiation from our cell phones and

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smartphones subsequently ran into a problem of their own.

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Wargaming's strategies are still in use today.

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In Vienna, too, there remains a bad aftertaste, even though the
person who instigated the alleged forgery has since

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been convicted in court and the scientific work of the
Viennese researchers has been internationally validated.

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“The Vienna research scandal was a reaction by someone—I’ll call
him a lobbyist—from Germany. He made a series of accusations.”

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They launched what started out as an academic debate
but actually turned into a very deep-seated dispute,

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simply to discredit and dismiss certain research findings.

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Seven years later, I can say with a
clear conscience that the man was convicted.

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That is malicious slander. None of the allegations held up.

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And to all those who still have it in the
back of their minds that something went wrong, we

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can tell them today that everything is fine.

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We will continue to track this data.

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We have just completed the follow-up
project, so we were able to confirm and expand

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upon the findings from the first major project.

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It's not just that the sensitive DNA breaks in some cells.

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We also know today why it breaks.

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We can describe the cellular mechanism behind it.

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"From a scientific perspective, this is an important
finding for presenting the facts in a plausible manner."

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In Austria, “wargaming” apparently also refers to malicious
interpretations and distortions of the facts, as seen

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here in the AUVA study led by Professor Mosgöller and
carried out by the Vienna-based industry lobby group FMK.

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This pattern of deliberate misinterpretation is often taken to
extremes, such as when fake news is published in

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the *Österreichische Ärztezeitung*, which only turns
out to be paid advertising upon closer inspection.

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But things are starting to get tight for the master manipulators.

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One would think so. But even though the very person who sparked
this so-called forgery scandal was found guilty and

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was ultimately even convicted in court, *Der Spiegel*
did not feel it necessary to set the record straight.

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That might be a nice suggestion.

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So, basically, it all came down to that forgery verdict.

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And what’s also disastrous—as I later
realized—is that in the U.S., these issues are,

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so to speak, swept under the rug in lawsuits.

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So that was a fake, even though that's nonsense.

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And you've seen how things are manipulated here.

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And so, naturally, Professor Lerchl came up again.

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He had, in fact, submitted a proposal to the International
Agency for Research on Cancer—the IARC—which was seeking to

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determine whether cell phone use causes cancer: yes or no?

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And that was when Mr. Lerchl applied. And this letter informed
him that his application had been rejected, because even at the

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World Health Organization’s sub-agency, a committee
had concluded at the time that he had made a name

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for himself more as a critic than as a researcher.

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And so Mr. Lerchl himself posted this
rejection letter addressed to him on the Internet.

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Here's another example of how one might handle the situation.

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But this topic, too, was not covered by the mainstream media.

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When I then began researching my first feature film,
the things you’ve just seen—those statements and

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revelations—led people to label me a conspiracy theorist.

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Well, I've been there for ten years,
thanks to a cover story in *Profil*.

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Okay. Here's another example: the
MOBI-Kids study on cell phones and brain tumors.

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Once again, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection
has offered a misinterpretation that downplays the issue.

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And the authors of this so-called
MOBI-Kids study did not find this to be the case.

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They said: It is not—and was not—the goal of the MOBI-Kids study
to investigate whether cell phone radiation causes brain tumors!

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And the Federal Statistical Office (BFS)
has stated that cell phone use does not

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increase the risk for children and adolescents.

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So we just have to work through this dilemma.

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In addition, I have (...), which actually
refers to the ICNIRP I mentioned earlier.

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And there's a very good report—the so-called ICNIRP
Report—that our dear Klaus Buchner, who was still a

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Member of the European Parliament at the time, helped draft.

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“The main finding was that these people have ties to industry.”

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So the fact that they aren't independent, and that
sometimes—since you're always required to disclose whether you

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have such connections—they sometimes failed to disclose them.

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"So that means it was really a discovery of things
that turned out differently than they were supposed to."

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ICNIRP isn't really there to ensure health
protection—which is what they're supposed to

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do—but rather to set limits that favor industry.

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And that's exactly one of the problems—and a source
of frustration. The whole thing just keeps going.

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We now also have some great
commissions, some of which are international.

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And they also demonstrate that the health assumptions on which
the FCC and the ICNIRP base their exposure limits

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for radiofrequency radiation do not in any way
refute the scientific findings regarding health risks.

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And that's why they're in hot water right now.

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In the United States, the FCC and the
ICNIRP are currently facing charges.

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These are processes that are now
underway. And that's a good thing.

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This dire situation facing research and science—which is
increasingly uncovering health risks—is then used, for example,

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in the context of technology assessment—as was already mentioned
today—to then, through an advertising agency and advertising

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campaigns, as you may recall, to claim exactly the opposite.

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Namely, to say: 5G is really great, everyone in
Germany is talking about it, and we all need it.

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And in fact, it’s true that, for example, my
work always involves me reaching out to people.

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Ms. Belpoggi, whom I just mentioned—one of the
leading cancer researchers—I had the opportunity to visit

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at the Ramazzini Institute; she was in charge of STOA.

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And the STOA study came under attack.

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And so I think it’s simply a message from a
journalistic perspective: go out and look

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at the people, don’t just stay at your desk.

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In 2020, she commissioned an impact assessment of 5G
technology; the findings of the so-called STOA report are clear.

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An increased risk of cancer and reduced sperm quality are the
main concerns and have led, among other things,

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to calls for a halt to expansion and a new
information policy aimed at protecting consumers.

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Industry-friendly scientists attempted to cast doubt
on the competence of the director, Dr. Fiorella

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Belpoggi, who was also responsible for the STOA report.

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“I have been working in cancer research since 1976.

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And so I think I've learned a lot throughout my career.

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And I was the author of the STOA report.

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But at first, I thought I would be
able to write this report on my own.

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When I found more than 8,000 relevant papers,
I decided to involve my colleagues as well.

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And both of these colleagues—Dr. Sgargi and Dr.
Vornoli—have a master's degree in biostatistics.

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"And so they were certainly able to select studies
and prepare documents for my overall evaluation."

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…to engage with people, seek dialogue, and
present scientific findings in this

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way—that is what constitutes a marketing strategy.

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And that isn't taken into account at all.

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She's simply being destroyed—or at least that's
what they're trying to do. And yes, no one visits her.

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So it seems today's press hasn't
even thought to seek out this lady.

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Which is a real shame. So we said, “Okay, maybe
it would help if we conducted our own study.”

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And we have now launched the
ATHEM-3 study, which I mentioned earlier.

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And this study was published as early as 2024.

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And I think this young lady sitting next to me played a
major role in us even getting this project off the ground.

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But that's exactly what the authorities should be doing.

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We then took the initiative to set this up on our own in order to
be even stronger and to be able to substantiate this

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very point through a study—that there is actually no
difference between non-ionizing and ionizing radiation.

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My film *Die Witwenstraße* clearly illustrates this as well.

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And then we'll be able to post that on your
platform as well. Thank you very much for your attention.

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Cell phone and Wi-Fi radiation harms people,
animals, and the environment. We need radiation-free zones!

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ASZA.org