In 2011, the World Health Organization classified cell phone radiation as a "possible" human carcinogen and the governments of the United Kingdom, France and Israel issued warnings against it. use of mobile phones by children. Still, the industry's propaganda campaign would sufficiently allay concerns that today, three out of four adults worldwide own a cell phone, making the wireless industry one of the largest in the world. The key strategic idea that drives corporate propaganda campaigns is that a given industry does not have to make the scientific argument about safety prevail, it just needs to keep making the argument. Maintaining the debate amounts to a victory for the industry, as the apparent lack of certainty helps reassure customers, fend off government regulations and deter lawsuits that could reduce profits.

To maintain the debate scientific argumentation, it is essential to make people believe that not all scientists agree. To this end, and like the tobacco and fossil fuel industries, the wireless industry uses science as a "war game," as a 1994 internal Motorola memo put it. wargaming involves playing both offense and defense – funding industry-friendly studies while attacking studies that raise questions; by placing industry-friendly experts on advisory bodies such as the World Health Organization and seeking to discredit scientists whose views differ from those of industry.

A Closer examination reveals industry sleight of hand. When Henry Lai, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington, analyzed 326 safety-related studies conducted between 1990 and 2006, he found that 44 percent of them found no biological effects of radiation from cell phones and 56% did so; Scientists were apparently divided. But when Lai recategorized the studies based on their funding sources, a different picture emerged: 67% of independently funded studies found a biological effect, compared to just 28% of industry-funded studies. Lai's findings were replicated by a 2007 analysis in Environmental Health Perspectives, which concluded that industry-funded studies were two and a half times less likely than independent studies to find health effects.

Mobile phone security