Safety Doesn't Hinder Grade School Science

Some scientists toil away in the laboratory for years before making a discovery. At Liverpool High School, it took two teen-agers less than a year to make breakthroughs that are raising eyebrows in the scientific community for a place in Grade School Science Projects.

Peter Skomoroch, a 16-year-old sophomore, discovered that exposure to microwaves from car cellular phones is virtually eliminated when the antenna is mounted on the roof instead of the window. As a result, Skomoroch may have found a way of reducing the risk of getting cancer from cellular phones in his Grade School Science Projects.

Brian Wooley, a 15-year-old freshman, discovered that it is almost impossible to kill a common species of cattails with lead. His discovery could lead to a new way of cleaning harmful metals from polluted lakes and ponds.

"More research still needs to be done," Skomoroch said. Maybe so, but the two science projects were impressive enough to catch the eye of judges at the International Science and Engineering Fair last month in Birmingham, Ala.

Skomoroch's project received a third-place award at the fair, out of 46 finalists in the physics category. The award carried a $200 prize. For the same project, Skomoroch also won a 12-day, all-expense-paid trip to San Diego from the Naval National Science Awards Competition. He leaves Saturday for California.

Wooley won second-place from the North American Benthological Society. His award included $100. The two students were the first- and second-place winners of the 1994 Greater Syracuse Scholastic Science Fair, held in March. The local fair was sponsored by the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology, which paid for their trips to Alabama.

For his project, Skomoroch set out to gauge the exposure levels of microwaves for different makes and models of cellular phones, which have been linked to cancer. Although a safe level of exposure, if any, is unknown, Skomoroch concluded exposure to potentially harmful microwaves emitted by car cellular phones can be nearly eliminated by mounting the antenna on the roof, instead of the window.

Users of cellular phones have been led to believe they can reduce their exposure to microwaves simply by switching from a portable model to a car phone. But cellular phones users who have the antenna mounted on the window haven't reduced their risk, Skomoroch said. "What I actually found out was, car phones can produce exposure levels similar or greater than hand-held phones" when the antenna is mounted on the window, Skomoroch said.