Today in the hallowed halls of the state government in Augusta, Maine, legislators are holding hearings on a first-in-the-nation bill that proposes putting warning labels about potential brain cancer on all cell phones sold in the state. Labels that even contain pictures.

The bill in question is LD 1706, somewhat redundantly called “An Act to Create the Children’s Wireless Protection Act.” The Maine state legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee is holding the hearings today, on a bill that has already created national news for the Pine Tree State.

HP120701 An Act To Create the Children’s Wireless Protection Act

Sponsoring the bill is Rep. Andrea Boland, D-Sanford. The bill calls for these exact words on every cell phone and all related packaging: “Warning, this device emits electromagnetic radiation, exposure to which may cause brain cancer. Users, especially children and pregnant women, should keep this device away from the head and body.”

Even more astounding is that the bill would require the label to have art, after a fashion. Boland’s bill wants to put on every cell phone a “color graphic of ‘Brain of 5-year-old’” from a 1996 study published by the IEEE of the effect of cell phone microwave emissions on the neck and head.

The onus of the bill would land squarely on the shoulders of the phone manufacturers, as the bill contains this proviso: “The requirements of this subsection may not result in a cost to the retailer or distributor of cellular telephones.” And the summary states that “This bill provides that a manufacturer may not sell at retail in this State…” any cell phone not carrying the warning.

The technology industry trade group TechAmerica today released a statement about the bill, saying that it “substitutes political judgment for the collective scientific judgment of experts around the world.” The National Cancer Institute, on the other hand, is hedging its bets. That organization has said that while “research has not consistently demonstrated a link between cellular telephone use and cancer, scientists still caution that further surveillance is needed before conclusions can be drawn” on its website.

What do you think? Are we at risk of brain cancer from our cell phones and do we need to be warned about it? Or is Maine making a call to Big Brother government?