According to Reuters, an estimated 4 billion people
worldwide now use cell phones, up from about 3 billion
around this time just last year.
Dangers Known for a Decade
Cell phones use radio waves to transmit voice data,
and the dangers of consistent exposure to
information-carrying radio waves have been known since
at least 1998. Yet few have been willing to accept the
evidence, and the cellular industry has followed in the
footsteps of the tobacco industry, vehemently denying
any risks.
It’s worth remembering that the telecommunication
industry is even BIGGER than Big Pharma, and they have
far more influence than the drug companies.
My belief is that this exponential increase in this
type of radiation exposure is far more serious a threat
than tobacco ever was.
The first major indication that cell phones might be
a health hazard came out of a massive, $28 million
research project funded by the Cellular Telephone
Industry Association (CTIA). To the industry’s surprise
and dismay, the results of the study came to the
opposite conclusion from the one they were hoping for.
The study's results included findings of:
A nearly 300 percent increase in the incidence
of genetic damage when human blood cells were
exposed to radiation in the cellular frequency band
A significant increase in cell phone users’ risk
of brain tumors at the brain’s outer edge, on
whichever side the cell phone was held most often
A 60 percent greater chance of acoustic
neuromas, a tumor affecting the nerve that controls
hearing, among people who had used cell phones for
six years or more
A higher rate of brain cancer deaths among
handheld mobile phone users than among car phone
users (car phones are mounted on the dashboard
rather than held next to your head)
Prior to this, Alfred Gilman and Martin Rodbell had
won the Nobel Prize (1994) for their research showing
your body's cells communicate with each other by subtle
low electromagnetic signals. These signals carry all the
vital information that are then translated into
biochemical and physiological processes.
Since then, many more scientists confirmed all of the
above findings.
The Latest Findings Confirm Long-Held Concerns
The latest meta-analysis looks at the epidemiological
evidence of cell phone usage and your risk of developing
a brain tumor. In order to be included, the studies had
to meet certain criteria:
Publication in a peer-reviewed journal
Inclusion of participants using cell phones for
a minimum of 10 years (to include potential latent
effects
Incorporation of a "laterality" analysis of
long-term users (i.e., analysis of the side of the
brain tumor relative to the side of the head
preferred for cell phone usage)
Eleven long-term epidemiologic studies were included,
which led to the following findings:
“The results indicate that using a cell phone for
> or = 10 years approximately doubles the risk of being
diagnosed with a brain tumor on the same ("ipsilateral")
side of the head as that preferred for cell phone use.
The data achieve statistical significance for
glioma and acoustic neuroma but not for meningioma.
The authors conclude that there is adequate
epidemiologic evidence to suggest a link between
prolonged cell phone usage and the development of an
ipsilateral brain tumor.”
Other Health Hazards Linked to Cell Phone Use
So far, in addition to the widespread concern about
brain cancer, scientists have found that
information-carrying radio waves transmitted by cell
phones and other wireless devices can:
I have been warning of the dangers of cell phones for
over a decade now, watching for and reporting on new
findings along the way. Fortunately, as the supporting
evidence mounts, scientists, medical professionals, and
government agencies around the world are starting to
caution against cell phone use as well.
Health Authorities and Government Officials Speak Out
Last year, tumor immunologist Dr. Ronald B.
Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh
Cancer Institute (UPCI), was one of the authorities who
finally elected to
speak out publicly about the potential dangers of cell
phones. He also spoke to the U.S. House Subcommittee
on Domestic Policy about the connection between cell
phone use and the increased risk of brain cancer.
Prior to that,
The BioInitiative Report, published August 31, 2007,
by an international working group of scientists,
researchers and public health policy professionals
offered a serious warning to the public.
The report documents serious scientific concerns
about the current limits regulating how much radiation
is allowable from power lines, cell phones, and many
other sources of exposure to radiofrequencies and
electromagnetic fields in daily life. They concluded
that the existing standards for public safety do not
protect your health.
The report also includes studies showing evidence
for:
Effects on Gene and Protein Expression
(Transcriptomic and Proteomic Research)
Genotoxic Effects – RFR and ELF DNA Damage
Stress Response (Stress Proteins)
Effects on Immune Function
Effects on Neurology and Behavior
Brain Tumors and Acoustic Neuromas
Childhood Cancers (Leukemia)
Magnetic Field Exposure: Melatonin Production;
Alzheimer’s Disease; Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer Promotion (Melatonin links in
laboratory and cell studies)
Disruption by the Modulating Signal
Another noted brain cancer authority who voiced his
concerns last year was Australian
Dr
Vini Gautam Khurana. His paper titled:
Mobile
Phones and Brain Tumors was the result of
reviewing more than 100 sources of recent medical and
scientific literature on this topic.
Iowa senator Tom Harkin, now chairman of the Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has
recently vowed to investigate any potential links
between cell phone use and cancer, noting that the
Senate Health committee does have jurisdiction over both
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC).
On September 14th, he called a hearing of
the Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Labor,
Health and Human Services, and Education to start
looking into the many questions surrounding this issue.
He also stated he will get the National Institutes of
Health (NIH) involved.
"I'm reminded of this nation's experience with
cigarettes,” Harkin said.
“Decades passed between the first warnings about smoking
tobacco and the final definitive conclusion that
cigarettes cause lung cancer."
Protect Yourself and Your Children
Remember, the damage from cell phone
exposure will take many years to surface, and there are
rarely any initial symptoms, just like smoking and lung
cancer.
At this point, you cannot completely avoid wireless
radiation from all sources since they’re so pervasive.
Getting rid of your cell phone altogether can help
protect you. But even if you don’t want to take that
step, you can still minimize your exposure and reduce
your risks by following these common sense guidelines:
Children Should Never Use Cell Phones:
Barring a life-threatening emergency, children should
not use a cell phone, or a wireless device of any type.
Children are far more vulnerable to cell phone radiation
than adults, because of their thinner skull bones.
Reduce Your Cell Phone Use: Turn your
cell phone off more often. Reserve it for emergencies or
important matters.
Use a Land Line at Home and at Work: Although
more and more people are switching to using cell phones
as their exclusive phone contact, it is a dangerous
trend and you can choose to opt out of the madness.
Reduce or Eliminate Your Use of Other Wireless Devices:
You would be wise to cut down your use of these
devices. Just as with cell phones, it is important to
ask yourself whether or not you really need to use them
every single time. If you must use a portable home
phone, use the older kind that operates at 900 MHz. They
are no safer during calls, but at least they do not
broadcast constantly even when no call is being made.
Use Your Cell Phone Only Where Reception is
Good: The weaker the reception, the more power
your phone must use to transmit, and the more power it
uses, the more radiation it emits, and the deeper the
dangerous radio waves penetrate into your body. Ideally,
you should only use your phone with full bars and good
reception. Also seek to avoid carrying your phone on
your body as that merely maximizes any potential
exposure. Ideally put it in your purse or carrying bag.
Turn Your Cell Phone Off When Not in Use: As
long as your cell phone is on, it emits radiation
intermittently, even when you are not actually making a
call.
Keep Your Cell Phone Away From Your Body When it
is On: The most dangerous place to be, in terms
of radiation exposure, is within about six inches of the
emitting antenna. You do not want any part of your body
within that area.
Use Safer Headset Technology: Wired
headsets will certainly allow you to keep the cell phone
farther away from your body. However, if a wired headset
is not well-shielded -- and most of them are not -- the
wire itself acts as an antenna attracting ambient
information carrying radio waves and transmitting
radiation directly to your brain.
Make sure that the wire used to transmit the signal
to your ear is shielded.
The best kind of headset to use is a combination
shielded wire and air-tube headset. These operate like a
stethoscope, transmitting the information to your head
as an actual sound wave; although there are wires that
still must be shielded, there is no wire that goes all
the way up to your head.
