Devra Davis

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Not to be confused with Debra M. Davis.
Devra Lee Davis
Born (1946-06-07) June 7, 1946 (age 75)
Washington, DC, US
Education
OrganizationEnvironmental Health Trust
Spouse(s)Richard D. Morgenstern

Devra Lee Davis, (born June 7, 1946) is an American epidemiologist, toxicologist, and author of three books about environmental hazards.[1][2] She has been a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh.[1]

Davis is the founder and president of the Environmental Health Trust,[3] a non-profit organization which argues that mobile devices, WiFi, 5G, and other radio-frequency systems pose a health risk to humans and the environment.[1] These claims are disputed and have sometimes been labelled "alarmist".[4]

Early life and education[]

The daughter of Sergeant Harry (retired US Brigadier General) and Jean Langer Davis, Devra Lee Davis was raised in Donora, Pennsylvania and in Pittsburgh, where she earned a BSc in physiological psychology and a MA in sociology from the University of Pittsburgh. She did a PhD in science studies at the University of Chicago as a Danforth Foundation graduate fellow, and an MPH in epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University as a senior National Cancer Institute post-doctoral fellow.[5]

Career[]

Davis was appointed by President Clinton to the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. In 1997, not long before the UN’s Kyoto Protocol Climate Conference, Davis was working as a consultant to the World Health Organization.[5] Davis served as a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the US National Toxicology Program.[6]

Davis served five years as the founding director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI). In 2009, she stepped down to become professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.[7]

Her 2002 book, When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution, described how environmental toxins are linked to cancers and other health problems,[8] and was a finalist for that year's National Book Award for Nonfiction.[9] Her next book, The Secret History of the War on Cancer, was published in 2007.[10][11][12] Epidemiologist Peter Boyle wrote that "devotees of conspiracy theories and aficionados of gossip and innuendo will be drawn towards this book like wasps to a juicy piece of meat" and discussed how the book suggested that the link between tobacco and cancer was used to distract from other possible sources.[13] Disconnect: The Truth about Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family, followed in 2010.[14][15]

Breast cancer prevention research[]

Davis founded the International Breast Cancer Prevention Collaborative Research Group, an organization dedicated to exploring the causes of breast cancer.[16] As senior adviser to the US Assistant Secretary for Health, Davis claimed that extra doses of estrogen-like compounds in the environment may increase the quantities of hormone some women receive to dangerous levels and can cause serious illness.[17]

5G campaign[]

Davis claims that radio-frequency systems such as WiFi and cellular phones pose a health risk to humans and other animals. Davis believes that 5G is particularly harmful and should be subject to additional study before it is widely deployed.[18]

Davis has claimed that radiation from mobile phones and WiFi are significant causes of cancer and are responsible for significant increases in cancer, but her claims are disputed by leading cancer research organizations.[4][19] Davis has been accused of cherry-picking evidence[20] and misrepresenting the studies upon which her conclusions were drawn.[21] Davis and the Environmental Health Trust have been accused of using "low quality sources" and exaggerating the significance of findings related to cellphone safety.[22]

A lecture by Davis was used by new age conspiracy promoter Sacha Stone in his 2020 film 5G Apocalypse: Extinction Event.[relevant?][23]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Devra Davis". Environmental Health Trust.
  2. ^ "Our Interview With Dr. Devra Davis | Green America". www.greenamerica.org. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  3. ^ Mann, Denise (December 13, 2019). "Cell Phone Radiation Damages DNA in Mice: Are Humans At Risk, Too?". Reader's Digest. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Chapman, Simon (September 1, 2016). "Mobile phone health alarmists bereft of credible arguments". The Conversation.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Kott, Ruth E. (2010). "Roaming crusader". The University of Chicago Magazine.
  6. ^ "Devra Lee Davis, PhD". WebMD. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  7. ^ "Devra Davis to Focus on Environmental Research". University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  8. ^ "National Book Award Finalist: When Smoke Ran Like Water". VOA News. October 27, 2009. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  9. ^ "When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution". National Book Foundation. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  10. ^ Huff, James (2008). "The Secret History of the War on Cancer". Environmental Health Perspectives. 116 (2): A90. doi:10.1289/ehp.116-a90a. PMC 2235200.
  11. ^ DuBois, Raymond N. (2008). "The secret history of the war on cancer". Journal of Clinical Investigation. 118 (6): 1978. doi:10.1172/JCI36051. PMC 2396903.
  12. ^ Parascandola, Mark (2008). "The Secret History of the War on Cancer: By Devra Davis". American Journal of Epidemiology. 168 (10): 1211–1212. doi:10.1093/aje/kwn210.
  13. ^ Boyle, Peter (November 24, 2007). "Conspiracy theories of cancer". The Lancet. 370 (9601): 1751. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(07)61735-8. ISSN 0140-6736.
  14. ^ Tachover, Dafna; Stein, Richard A. (2011). "Review of Disconnect: The Truth about Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family". World Medical & Health Policy. 3 (1): 62–63. doi:10.2202/1948-4682.1135.
  15. ^ Walsh, Bryan (September 27, 2010). "Health: A Cancer Muckraker Takes on Cell Phones". Time.
  16. ^ Robson, B. (April 15, 1996). "Conferences point to growing concern about possible links between breast cancer, environment". Canadian Medical Association Journal. 154 (8): 1253–1255. ISSN 0820-3946. PMC 1487668. PMID 8612261.
  17. ^ Vines, Gail (September 24, 1993). "Pesticides linked to breast cancer". New Scientist. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  18. ^ Davis, Devra. "Published Scientific Research on 5G, 4G Small Cells, Wireless Radiation and Health". Environmental Health Trust.
  19. ^ Wright, Tom (June 16, 2020). "Panorama: The 5G Con That Could Make You Sick" (PDF). BBC News. Now, how many of you had heard that in 2011, the World Health Organisation had reviewed all of the evidence and decided that mobile phone radiation was a possible human carcinogen? It’s interesting that that information isn’t more widely known.
  20. ^ King, Stephen. "To 5G, or not to 5G?". Bailiwick Express.
  21. ^ Trottier, Lorne (December 31, 2010). "A Disconnect between cell phone fears and science". Science Based Medicine. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
  22. ^ Timmer, John (March 23, 2018). "A critical analysis of the latest cellphone safety scare". ARS Technica.
  23. ^ Wright, Tom (June 6, 2020). "File On 4: The 5G Con That Could Make You Sick" (PDF). BBC Radio 4. Devra Davis is adamant that she neither believes in nor condones conspiracy theories. But that doesn’t stop people with some very strange ideas using her words to spread fear. And they’ve found that fear is a great way to make money. Devra Davis’ lectures were recently used in a film called 5G Apocalypse.

External links[]

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