In a , SIG executive director Mike Foley touted Bluetooth as a low-power technology that could negate the risk of cellphone-induced brain cancer by allowing users to talk into their handsets at a distance instead of holding them directly up to their heads.

"[T]here is no need to hold that cell phone to your ear," writes Foley. "Bluetooth headsets offer a safer solution. Why not err on the side of caution and go blue?"

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Foley elaborated by noting that Bluetooth headsets typically transmit with about 1/1,000 of the power of most mobile phones, since "a headset has to send a signal only a few feet from your ear to your phone, but cell phone towers are often a mile of more apart." Foley acknowledged that the link between cellphones and cancer is "still largely unproven," before quoting American Cancer Society Chief Medical Officer Otis Brawley as saying that "if there is a risk, most of it goes away with a wireless earpiece."

Foley's promotion of Bluetooth as a safer way to talk on cellphones came shortly after the World Health Organization stating that there "could be some risk" that regular cellphone usage could increase the likelihood of coming down with glioma, a malignant form of brain cancer. Christopher Wild, the director for the International Agency for Research on Cancer, said yesterday that using hands-free technologies such as Bluetooth could help protect users from increased risk when using their cellphones.