Joel M. Moskowitz

Joel M. Moskowitz is a researcher on the faculty of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. He has worked on public health issues that include cell phone risk, tobacco control, and alcohol abuse. He helped the city of Berkeley, California to draft an ordinance mandating safety warnings on cell phones. In 2018, Moskowitz won the James Madison Freedom of Information Award for his work in bringing to light previously publicly unknown California Department of Public Health guidance documents about cell phone safety.

Biography Moskowitz was educated at Rutgers University (BA in mathematics), University of California, Santa Barbara (MA and PhD in social psychology), and served as a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University in evaluation research and methodology.

He is Director and Principal Investigator of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley.

Mobile phones Meta-analysis Moskowitz coauthored a 2009 meta-analysis of 23 studies of mobile phone usage and risk of tumors, which concluded that studies with low bias revealed "possible evidence linking mobile phone use to an increased risk of tumors." A few months later, Moskowitz's work was mentioned in the Huffington Post by epidemiologist Devra Davis, who stated his findings concurred with other research, and that "the French are not waiting for further research on this matter, and are taking steps based on the notion that it is better to be safe than sorry",

"Right to Know" law

In 2015, the city of Berkeley, California, passed a "Right to Know" and CNN. Moskowitz described the law as "a crack in the wall of denial...."

The California Department of Public Health released copies of the guidelines on March 2, 2017, after a Sacramento Superior Court judge indicated she would order their disclosure, and after the state was told by the San Francisco Chronicle that it was publishing news coverage of the case. and directed release of the guidance document. But quote| before the judge could issue her final ruling, the CDPH [California Department of Public Health] emailed the 2014 version of the cell phone use guidance document, entitled "Cell Phones and Health," to a San Francisco Chronicle reporter... The two-page fact sheet was marked: "Draft and Not for Public Release." In her final ruling dated March 13, 2017, , Judge Chang ruled the document is not a draft, and ordered it to be released to Dr. Moskowitz without the "Draft" markings. Moskowitz's legal victory was later noted by media that included the Boston Globe, where he was quoted with reference to the possible withholding of information by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, as well as by The Mercury News, KGO-TV, KCRA-TV, characterized in Huffington Post as an "updated version of the documents the public health department released under pressure." With regard to the new official guidance document, CNET quoted Moskowitz as stating that "although California's new cell phone warnings underplay the state of the science, many people consider this action by the largest state public health department to be a significant development," and that he "would like to thank the current leadership of CDPH for their courage to stand up to a powerful industry."

James Madison Freedom of Information Award

For his work on cell phone radiation, the Northern California branch of the Society of Professional Journalists gave Moskowitz a 2018 James Madison Freedom of Information Award. On its website, the journalists' Society noted that "Moskowitz... successfully sued the state under the California Public Records Act, securing the release of a report on cell phone radiation commissioned by California’s Department of Public Health." Time magazine quoted Moskowitz views on Cell phone radiations. And Reader's Digest also noted Moskowitz's views. IEEE Spectrum has discussed Moskowitz's allegation that FCC tests investigated only phones directly supplied by the manufacturers Bloomberg News has quoted Moskowitz's appraisals of the implications of new research studies, the Chicago Tribune, Reader's Digest and various other media

and he has been noted on media platforms such as Psychology Today.

Moskowitz has promoted a petition about the alleged health risks of 5G technologies. In March 2019, the British tabloid Daily Mail ran a headline implying that the petition had singled out potential dangers from Apple's Airpods. Later that month, the fact-checking website Snopes published an investigation debunking the claim. In July 2019, the Office of Communications and Public Affairs of the University of California, Berkeley, published an audio podcast and transcript of Moskowitz's talk, "Cell Phones, Cell Towers and Wireless Safety".

Tobacco Moskowitz has also been quoted in media coverage of cigarettes and health, one area in which he has done research. The Daily Californian quoted his statement that "the whole movement toward changing norms within our society with regards to tobacco use has been driven by people acting at the community level, creating laws." Criticism In 2017, the American Council on Science and Health, criticized Moskowitz, suggesting that he is spreading cherry-picked and misleading information about wireless radiations.

Publications (selected)