7 Facts About Devra Davis

If you’re interested in mobile radiation, you might have already heard of Devra Davis, a well-known international expert on mobile phone radiation.

Devra Davis is often asked for her opinions by the media, e.g. CNN, BBC, FOX etc. and she has also appeared on national programs in different countries such as Canada, Finland, Korea and Germany. She is an epidemiologist, an awarded scientist (Lifetime Achievement Award from Green America, a nonprofit membership organization based in the United States) and an authority when it comes to responsible mobile phone usage and other environmental concerns.

The list of her scientific experience and lifetime achievements is long so we wanted to focus on mobile radiation, which is now her main concern.

What do we know about Devra Davis?

1. Devra Davis was born on the 7th of June, 1948. She was raised in Pennsylvania, USA (Donora and Pittsburgh).

2. Davis received a BS and an MA from the University of Pittsburgh in 1967, where she held National Science Foundation fellowships as an honours undergraduate and graduate student. She completed her PhD in science at the University of Chicago and an MPH (master of public health) at Johns Hopkins University as a National Cancer Institute post-doctoral fellow.

3. From 1994 to 1999 she served as President Bill Clinton’s appointee to The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. She was already recognized as an international expert on environmental health factors.

4. She is a co-founder and president of Environmental Health Trust (EHT), a non-profit organization focusing on drawing attention to man-made health threats, e.g. electromagnetic radiation, especially from wireless devices, such as phones and tablets and also the antennas and cell towers powering these devices. All of them emit radio-frequency/microwave radiation. In the past, projects prepared by EHT were aimed at banning smoking and raising awareness about breast cancer and endometriosis, especially in young African American women. The organization was also working on exploring factors causing high rates of fibroid tumours and on educating about the adverse impact of asbestos. As you can see, Environmental Health Trust works in different fields connected with health. It was started in 2007 and you can read about its current activity on this website.

5. She started the Baby Safe Project,^[1] an awareness movement for pregnant mothers to keep mobile phones away from their wombs, as it is scientifically proven that radiation has an impact on the fetus. Due to the Baby Safe Project, up to 4,500 pregnant women having treatment at the hospital attached to the Yale University have been educated about the adverse health effects of radiation on the womb.

6. Her book, Disconnect (2010), was selected by TIME magazine as a top pick of the year.^[2] It discusses the possible dangers of mobile phone usage and it covers the topic of whether or not the mobile phone industry is responsible for impeding the research on mobile radiation. She had proof that some studies were stopped due to the impact of the industry. Her book made her one of the best-known experts in the field of radiation.

7. Devra Davis is married to Richard D. Morgenstern, an economist. His research focuses on the economic analysis of environmental issues, such as climate change and reducing emissions in the U.S. and abroad.^[3] They have two children and three grandchildren.

Devra Davis speaking at a lecture about mobile radiation

A few decades ago, Devra Davis worked in a group of researchers investigating the subject of smoking cigarettes. Their aim was to explore if smoking could be harmful to human health. Nowadays, the negative impact of smoking is obvious for everyone, but in those days, it was hard to believe that smoking could cause lung cancer.[4] Davis compared the former case of cigarettes to the lack of awareness of the possible health effects of excessive mobile phone usage.

The level of ignorance is so high that her work is often called ‘junk science’. We don’t agree with that opinion. There is a lot of reliable scientific research on radiation available but it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by it all. Devra Davis is brave enough to speak out about the subject, which is not yet very popular among scientists. We think this is why she arouses controversy.

If you want to learn more about mobile radiation directly from Devra Davis, you can watch one of her lectures:

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