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Mobile Safety

Gas Station Warnings Perpetuate "Urban Legend"

October 7, 1999
(Washington, DC) - Tom Wheeler, President and CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA), today issued the following statement on the issue of using wireless phones at gas stations:  "The power of urban legends can be incredible. Some petroleum companies - based on absolutely no evidence -- are posting signs at gas pumps banning the use of wireless phones.

"Internet myths combined with a corporate legal department's desire for inoculation makes a powerful brew. First it was phones on airplanes (even on the ground!) and now it's phones at gas stations. The phones on planes myth was recently debunked in the press. Phones and gas stations exploding are equally as specious. There is no evidence whatsoever that a wireless phone has ever caused ignition or explosion at gas station anywhere in the world.

"Urban legends like this seem harmless, but the public deserves to know the truth. Wireless phones don't cause gas stations to blow up. These warnings simply perpetuate the myth."

Resource http://www.snopes.com/spoons/faxlore/gasvapor.htm Website of "urban legends," dismisses any link between using wireless phones at service stations and fires or explosions as "fuelish."

Urban Legend expert Barbara Mikkelson, who coordinates the www.snopes.com site, writes, "We're bound to see even more regulations `protecting' us from yet another non-existent threat."