Cell
Phone Industry Faces Legal Tests
CNN
Journalist: Sharon Gaudin
July 04, 2001
Gibb Brower, a 41-year-old, self-employed landscaper in San Diego, used a cell phone to help run his business from the road or on job sites for four years.
He says his cell phones - an analog Motorola flip phone and a digital Sony - caused the growth of two tumors and a surrounding cancer field on the right side of his head where he held the phone.
Brower, who is already more than a year into a predicted two-year life expectancy, has filed suit against Motorola, Sony and at least one carrier. The suit is still ongoing.
Brower says part of his remorse comes from using a cell phone against his own best judgment.
"It was easier logistically [to use a cell phone]," says Brower, who has gone through surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, and suffers from fatigue and short-term memory loss. "From day one, I was worried about contracting brain cancer because of earlier reports . . . Anything that can remotely give you a chance of cancer, I stay away from. But I was assured by the people I got the phone from that it was safe."