IP: Pseudo science at work. Where is the Exon station from telecom digest

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Subject: Report: BP Amoco to Prohibit Cell Phones at Gas Stations
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1999 19:08:41 PDT
From: tad () ssc com (Tad Cook)


(This is crazy.  The alleged incidents turned out to be rumors, nobody
can find a case of this ever happening, and cellphones emit a tiny
signal compared to two-way radios in police cars and taxicabs.  Pagers
are banned?  They don't emit radio waves?.  tad () ssc com)

CLEVELAND (AP) -- BP Amoco plans to ban the use of cellular telephones
at its U.S. gasoline pumps by the end of the year, a newspaper reported
today.

The precautionary measure is prompted by concerns that electronic
impulses from a cellular phone could help ignite fires if gasoline or
gas fumes are present. The risk is slight, but London-based BP Amoco
doesn't want to take any chances, Linda McCray, a BP spokeswoman in
Cleveland, told {The Plain Dealer}.

The company will begin posting warning signs at all Amoco and BP
stations by the end of the year, McCray said.

"We are unaware of any incidents here in the U.S. in which a cellular
has been linked to a fire or an explosion," she said. "This is
strictly a precautionary measure we are taking."

The BP Amoco ban, which was implemented earlier this year at BP
stations in the United Kingdom and Australia, will prohibit the use of
personal electronic devices such as cellular telephones, compact disc
players and pagers near gas pumps.

The San Francisco-based Chevron Corp. also plans to ban cell phones.
The company will place warning decals on gas pumps later this year,
said Nancy Malinowski, a Chevron spokeswoman.

The city of Cicero, Ill., a Chicago suburb, recently passed the first
law in the nation banning the use of cellular phones at gas stations.

Cell phone manufacturers have included warnings against such use in
owner's manuals for years because they say that under certain
conditions, cell phones could help generate sparks.

The American Petroleum Institute, which is looking into the reports,
has so far found no substantiated reports of such incidents.