Secret Agent Man?

Don’t be alarmed if you start seeing apparently sensible people walking around in public talking to themselves.

They’re not crazy. And they’re not secret agents.

They are anxious cell-phone users.

Upon closer inspection, you’ll see little wires coming out of their ears. The wires are attached to the phones. The phones are tucked into pockets.

Why?

These folks are trying to put maximum distance between their brains and any radiation emitted by their convenient little gadgets.

After a number of studies over a period of six years that examined whether cell phones present a health danger, troubling questions remain about how much radiation the devices might be sending into the brain, possibly causing cancer or tumors.

A growing number of users have taken to heart recommendations to keep the phone and its antenna at least several inches away from their heads.

“There is a danger that people will think that you are a disturbed individual talking to yourself,” said state Sen. Tom Hayden, who uses an ear wire. “I think it’s funny and irrelevant, and we’ll get used to it.”

The cell phone studies were completed late last year by Wireless Technology Research, an independent research group in Washington, D.C., under the sponsorship of the wireless phone industry’s trade association, which remains confident that its products are safe.

“The overwhelming majority of those studies showed that radio frequencies at the wireless phone level weren’t considered toxic to the body,” said Jo-Anne Basile, vice president for external and industry relations at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Assn. in Washington, D.C. She said a Web site, https://www.phonefacts.net, contains the details of government and association findings.

The studies inspired an investigation on ABC’s “20/20” in October and also caught the attention of Hayden, who plans to introduce legislation within the next several weeks that could require cellular telephone sellers to post information about possible health risks, and to offer headsets or hands-free earpieces for sale with the phones.

Sherman Oaks real estate agent Matt Epstein saw the program and got worried, too. He spends nearly 3,000 minutes a month on his cellular phone.

“It was a reality check for me,” he said. “The next day, I ordered a headset and got a car kit. And I insisted that everyone I work with get one.”

His team of eight other ReMax Realtors wears them everywhere.

“We do these things called caravans, where we all go to open houses,” Epstein said. “Three or four of us get out of the cars with these headsets, and we look like we’re ‘Men in Black.’ They think we’re security officers--or that we’re just crazy guys talking to ourselves.”

For the last several months, Hayden has been wearing an earpiece and keeping his cell phone in his jacket side pocket. He’s become a role model to his associates but doesn’t make a big deal of it.

“I don’t go on and on about it because you know, I’m not big on personal moralizing and preaching,” he said. “I think they know that I’ve done my homework and that I wouldn’t be introducing legislation if it wasn’t a serious matter.”

His bill asks that California cell-phone retailers offer a hands-free earpiece or headset for sale with contracts or phones. Further, cell-phone manufacturers would have to provide retailers with a sign that advises consumers about the “possible link between cellular telephone service usage and brain tumors and memory loss and that federal studies are inconclusive.”

“If there is an alternative to being a guinea pig in a giant experiment to determine if you should microwave your brain, I figure we should take some action,” Hayden said. “Why not be better safe than sorry?”

That’s what Costa Mesa personal trainer Sarah Whitely thought, too.

She heard about the “20/20” report and immediately ditched her cell phone.

“I don’t think of myself as a paranoid person, but as someone who takes precautions,” she said. She replaced her old cell phone with another that reportedly had a lower amount of radiation, and her boyfriend, Sasha Lopez, bought her a headset.

“I get a few stares--more than I do questions,” Whiteley said. “You look like you are a Secret Service agent with this wire hanging from your ear. But people are definitely interested. They don’t know they have options.”

Ironically, these concerns have become an effective catalyst for safer driving. Laura Kovach, an account executive at Anthony Mora Public Relations, said the scare compelled her to use the earpiece that came with her phone.

“Not only is it good for keeping that radiation supposedly away from your head, but it allows you to be a more conscientious driver and be hands free,” she said.

Converts to earpieces are liking the freedom that it gives them.

“It’s definitely a lot easier,” Whiteley said. “I’m sitting here eating lunch and talking to my roommate at the same time.”

Some, like Epstein, are prepared to endure the stares until either headsets become more widespread or the studies are more conclusive.

“I know a lot of this is up in the air,” Epstein said. “As a case study, I’d rather be alive. If I find out in a few years that the reports are false--fine. So what if people think I look like Madonna wearing my headset?”