Cell Phone Dangers
MORE DOCTORS SMOKE CAMELS
By Rob Pell
“More doctors smoke Camels than any other brand”! That’s what the TV and magazine ads in the early 1950’s said! Those ads were based on surveys of over 100,000 medical doctors. However, by 1965 the Surgeon General had determined that no matter who smoked them, cigarettes caused cancer.
Further, the first documented death due to asbestos was in 1906. Asbestos-related diseases began to be commonly diagnosed in the 1920’s but related workman’s compensation cases were settled in secrecy for the next 5 decades. Well into the 1970’s asbestos was still used in a variety of construction applications. Later in the 70’s, court documents proved that asbestos industry officials had worked hard to conceal the truth about asbestos toxicity from the unsuspecting public. Now it’s scientifically accepted that Mesothelioma (a deadly cancer) is caused by exposure to asbestos.
These examples are offered to illustrate the point that: just because a product is publicly embraced by the medical establishment or captains of industry, does not make it safe or appropriate for humans or the environment.
Some now call Cell Phones: “the cigarettes of the 21st century”. Despite denials from most in the cell phone industry, history may be repeating itself. More studies are released every year that clearly demonstrate cell phone dangers.
Brain and head tumors
Visual problems
Sleep and memory disorders
Leukemia and more.
About 300 million Americans now use cell phones, despite the fact that their safety is being increasingly called into question. In fact, there are no mandated safety standards for testing cell phones before they are released to the market.
Meanwhile, government agencies, similar to their stance on tobacco before the evidence became overwhelming, have essentially ignored the danger warnings. Just like smoking tobacco, they fail to acknowledge that it can take from
10 to 30 years for brain tumors to develop from cell phone exposure, so we’re just now beginning to see some of the tragic effects of heavy cell phone use.
According to the New York Times: “The largest study of cell phone use and brain cancer has been the Interphone International Case Control Study … The authors included some disturbing data showing that subjects who used a cell phone 10 or more years doubled the risk of developing brain gliomas, a type of tumor.”
In addition, a report in the prestigious British medical journal “The Lancet”, considered the most comprehensive and well-referenced report on this topic to date, warns that the potential problems from cell phones can NOT be dismissed.
In 2008, cell phones were identified as a contributor to salivary gland tumors. Dr. Siegal Sadetzki, who testified in September 2009 at the U.S. Senate Hearing, is the principle investigator of the study that made this finding: your risk of getting a parotid tumor on the same side of your head that you use for listening to the mobile phone increases by 34 to 58% depending on how frequently you use a cell phone.
In addition, risks posed to children may the greatest of all. Because children’s skulls are less dense and more easily penetrated by radiofrequency radiation, children and adolescents are especially susceptible to the ill-effects of cell phone use. The Vienna Medical Association is demanding the banning of cell phone advertising targeting children and adolescents. Says Erik Huber, environment advisor for the association: “Children under the age of 16 should never use a cell phone.” Cell phone dangers are most serious for children.
Professor Lennart Hardell of Sweden has found that those who begin using cell phones heavily as teenagers have 4 to 5 times more brain cancer as young adults!
Steps You Can Take To Reduce Cell Phone Dangers:
Keep them away from your head. Apple says your iPhone should come no closer than 5/8 of an inch; BlackBerry recommends about an inch. Use the cell phone in speaker-phone mode, to reduce close-proximity exposure to your head.
To help reduce cell phone dangers, turn your phone off whenever feasible. If possible, keep phones away from your body when they are on, by not attaching them to belts or carrying them in pockets.
Consider texting rather than talking.
Cell phones are convenient but it’s becoming alarmingly clear that the costs may be far greater than what appears on the bottom line of your monthly bill.
