PITTSBURGH, July 23 (UPI) -- The director of a Pittsburgh health complex is distributing an advisory to employees on avoiding possible health risks associated with cell phone use.

Among suggestions Dr. Ronald Herberman listed to limit exposure to electromagnetic radiation emitted by the devices were texting, shortening conversations and using headset or speaker phone options, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Wednesday.

"Recently I have become aware of the growing body of literature linking long-term cell phone use to possible adverse health effects, including cancer," Dr. Ronald Herberman told faculty and staff at the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "Although the evidence is still controversial, I am convinced that there are sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some precautionary advice on cell phone use."

Herberman said other countries have recommended limits on exposure, and public health officials in Toronto have advised young people to limit cell phone use.

While support for limited cell phone use may be growing, it isn't universal, the newspaper said.

Precautions are good, but "the bottom line, at this time, is that there is no conclusive evidence tying cell phone use to brain cancer," said Dan Catena, an American Cancer Society spokesman.

Oregon wants to keep invasive critters out

SALEM, Ore., July 23 (UPI) -- Oregon state health officials say they are getting tough on invasive insects and snails that transport potentially dangerous afflictions into the state.

Nearly 200 people gathered in a conference hall near Salem, Ore., to develop a statewide strategy against the insects, plants and animals that can adversely affect -- or already have affected -- the state's economy and environment, The (Portland) Oregonian reported Wednesday.

The ideas to combat the invaders will be compiled into a report for the governor.

"The issue is finally gaining traction with the public and also the leaders," said Dan Hilburn, the Oregon Agriculture Department's plant division administrator. "Invasive species is an issue we can win, because it's mostly generated by the activities of people and it's preventable."

Most of the species most likely arrive on airplanes and ships traveling from states or countries that do business with Oregon, Hilburn said.

However, Hilburn said he received a request recently from a school wanting to import five insects into Oregon, including wood-loving carpenter ants and a termite.

"That's just dumb," he said, because the bugs could inadvertently or intentionally be set loose when they're no longer needed.

Volunteers stage highway toad rescue

CHILLIWACK, British Columbia, July 23 (UPI) -- Canadian volunteers in British Columbia were scooping up thousands of western toads Wednesday to prevent them from being killed by cars.

The toads, listed as a federal "species of special concern," are late in their migratory move from wetlands in the south-central city of Chilliwack to forested uplands, and thousands have been killed crossing the road that separates the two habitats, The Province newspaper in Vancouver reported.

Biologist Zoey Slater told the newspaper gloved volunteers began scooping the dime-sized toads into buckets and boxes Tuesday night and ferrying them across the road.

"Residents told us that in the past, the road would be covered with squished toads, like a huge oil slick," she said.

She said the death of one female toad has a huge impact, as female western toads only reproduce twice in their lifetime, laying up to 20,000 eggs.

Slater said the toads' numbers are shrinking from the Fraser Valley lowlands because of development.

FDA needs recall authority, group says

WASHINGTON, July 23 (UPI) -- U.S. food stores' mixed reaction to possibly tainted jalapeno and serrano peppers demonstrates the regulators' limited recall authority, a watchdog group says.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued warnings last week that raw jalapeno and serrano peppers may be linked to the salmonella outbreak associated with certain raw tomatoes. Health officials Monday said a jalapeno tainted with Salmonella saintpaul found at a packing plant in Texas came from a farm in Mexico. The FDA advised people at high risk for infection to avoid eating either pepper raw.

Some stores began pulling the suspect peppers from their shelves on Monday; others waited until Tuesday, the day after the advisory was expanded to include foods that contained raw jalapeno and serrano peppers, the Times reported.

Because the FDA doesn't have the mandatory recall authority, it's "up to individual retailers to decide what they are going to do," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington.

DeWaal said Congress must give the FDA the ability to create better tools to track food from the farm to the dinner table as well as authority to issue mandatory recalls other than for infant formula.

"Congress should not wait for more evidence that the agency doesn't have the tools it needs," DeWaal said.