French Health Minister Warns Against Excessive Cell Phone Use
The French may have only just jumped on the no-smoking-in-bars bandwagon, but they are leading the charge against health risks associated with cell phone use. Earlier this week, France's Ministry of Health issued a statement warning the public against excessive cell phone use. French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin (pictured) also went on France 2 TV and rehashed the well-worn theory connecting cell phone use and cancer (cell phones emit small amount of radiation).
While she stopped short of actually telling people to stop using their cell phones entirely, Bachelot-Narquin did say that people, especially children, should curtail their long-term proximity to phones by avoiding making calls if there's poor reception or by keeping phones away from their bodies (presumably by using a wireless Bluetooth headset).
Bachelot-Narquin acknowledged that the link between cell phone use and cancer remains specious, but cited studies in which it was found that people who used analog cell phones for more than ten years were more likely to develop tumors. What she didn't mention is that most people in countries like France and the U.S. no longer use analog phones and instead now use digital phones, and those haven't been around for much more than ten years.
So, the jury is still out on whether newer cell phones pose health risks or not.
But a statistic pointed out by BetaNews may shed some light on cell phones and cancer: Finland, the country with the highest per capita cell phone use in the world, listed tumors as the second biggest cause of death (23 percent) among men and women alike.
So maybe the French are on to something, or maybe they're just trying to one-up us on the banning of addictive activities that annoy other people. Regardless, cutting back on cell-phone-use certainly seems to be the flavor of the month (or the New Year), as evidenced by this New-York-City-woman's recent New Year's resolution.
One thing is certainly true: The questions around cell phone use and cancer are not likely to go away any time soon. And don't get us started on all the other gadgets that might be making you sick.
From Reuters and BetaNews
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Kim Malcolm said 6:06PM on 1-24-2008
i am a 11 year old who is on the phone 24/7 even in school.I can admit that even though i am on the cell phone 24/7 i still manage to keep my grades up i think that children who r too hooked to the cellphone can cant even go without a cell phone for an hour are the ones that need help.I understand what the doctors are saying but i have to say cancer is already out and over 40% of people have it and we are going to dye some dye some day whether its tomorrow or next year or whenever.All I have to say is if u cant go an hour/ a day without a cell phone you need help badly.
Kim
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Kim Malcolm said 6:59PM on 1-24-2008
je suis une personne de 11 ans qui est sur le téléphone 24/7 même dans l'école. Je peux l'admettre. bien que je sois sur le téléphone cellulaire 24/7 je réussis toujours à continuer mes qualités je crois que les enfants que r aussi accroché au cellphone peut retourner même vont sans un téléphone cellulaire depuis une heure sont ceux qui ont besoin de l'aide. Je comprends que les docteurs disent mais je dois dire que le cancer est sorti déjà et plus de 40 % des gens l'ont et nous allons teindre plus tard si son demain ou l'année prochaine ou chaque fois que. Tout ce que je dois dire est si les paroles creuses u vont une heure / un jour sans un téléphone cellulaire vous avez besoin de l'aide mal.
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naresh kumar said 2:05PM on 3-07-2008
sar halp me pil
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Eric said 4:50PM on 1-04-2008
yea, like that will ever happen. there is no way that people will give up cell phones for good. or alteast im not going to. until they "prove" that it does give you cancer, its with me all the time.
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Jim Oshust said 4:57PM on 1-04-2008
Listen to a Frenchman? Give me a break. A country that has lost more wars than can be counted? A country who just bought two new sets for their army - one for parades and the other for surrenders. Theyhave a number of brand new rifles for sale - only dropped once.
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Localboy said 4:58PM on 1-04-2008
Sorry, but everything we eat, drink, breathe & do causes cancer now days !!! Can't hide or protect ourselves anymore !!!
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Carol said 5:06PM on 1-04-2008
I discovered this past year that the cause of my depression, anxiety, and panic attacks is what Europeans are calling 'microwave sickness'. I spent 15 years on antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications essentially for radiation poisoning. Both the cell phone and the healthcare industries ought to be ashamed.
My ex-husband, a heavy cell phone user, had a brain tumor removed last year. I won't even use a cordless phone now, let alone a cell phone.
If you think you're okay with your "occasional" cell phone use, read the bioinitiative report, and think again.
http://www.bioinitiative.org/report/index.htm
Not proven unsafe does not equal safe.
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PERRY said 5:18PM on 1-04-2008
First it was pagers and people said,"I would be lost without my pager"..now cell phones and the traffic is slower(recent poll done shows this to be true)now "I can't imagine my life without a cell phone".I do not have or own one and get along just fine. Just because things can make life easier doesn't mean one should be a slave to it..TECHNOLOGY!!!!!!
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gene said 5:21PM on 1-04-2008
hey eric you love your cell phone so much why don't you stick it up your ass.
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Ralph Garcia said 5:26PM on 1-04-2008
I never had the need to own or use a cellphone. It adds too much stress. People who use it also take it to the bathroom with them. That's gross because even if they wash their hands, they don't wash the keys to the cellphone. Guys who use it are just too effeminate as I overhear conversations how so and so hurt their feelings. It probably makes guys gay anyway. Comic book artist Michael Turner, the creator of Fathom, had to have part of his hip bone removed, and was a cell phone user. He had his phone always on hip hip. I hope that they don't take pay phones away. I'd rather live the old fashioned way as you're playing russian roulette as cancer is very tough to beat. I'm in tip top shape and have a lot to live for. I don't want a cell phone in any part of my life.
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Ralph Garcia said 5:28PM on 1-04-2008
Getting back to cell phones I notice the guys at work who do have them have girlfriends on the side while they're married. They get these calls on their cell at work and they work less than a person that doesn't have one. If their spouse got rid of their cellphones, then they'd have to dump their girlfriend because there'd be no way for them to get in touch with them.
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George Earl said 5:32PM on 1-04-2008
I am one of the 3-million Americans who have to deal with epilepsy. And as much as there is known about this neurological malfunction, more is yet to be discovered. For instance, I've noticed that after I've extensively used my cell phone (always in my right hand, next to my right ear), I often get intensive headaches. Sometimes thereafter, no matter how short my call has been, an epileptic seizure in one of many forms, can occur. Will neurologists listen to such reports from even we better-informed patients? Very few.
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Stevo said 5:36PM on 1-04-2008
Jim, you are a very typical example of that dullard genus, The-Ugly-American. You most obviously have no substantive understanding of human history, and are most obviously tragically parochial in your manner of thinking. Vacca foeda.
One has to questions the long-term affects of anything you use on a daily basis. The one thing is that cell phones are terribly low powered devices, certainly this must enter into the query of cell-phone use and health.
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Vahn said 5:34PM on 1-04-2008
Ralph, you're stupid.How does a cell phone make a man gay?
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ascatal said 5:42PM on 1-04-2008
well if the human race stopped doing everthing we have been told is bad for us we would have died of starvation and bordem years ago
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Audrey Booth said 5:50PM on 1-04-2008
If people want to gamble on the fact that cell phones might cause cancer, then let them. What I object to are the idiots that use them while driving. When will we ever enact a law that states that you must park your vehicle while using a cell phone? They are responsible for thousands of deaths by automobile.
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Sam said 10:36PM on 1-04-2008
um...ya right "using ur cell phone gives you cancer" haha untill they can prove that i always have my cell with me!
~sam~
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cindy said 5:55PM on 1-04-2008
cancer is a virus people!!!! wake up...
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DrEDisONagain said 6:01PM on 1-04-2008
This is from a Research Physician...Electrical signals of various frequencies, wavelength and power fill almost every space on this planet. If you can get a signal for your cell phone or your Internet connection, you are being penetrated by various radio frequency signals propagated through space. A large variety of these signals, even small signals, DO have biological effects and consequences at the cellular level.
Dr. Eddy H. Pevovar, N.D., Ph.D.
DrEDisONagain@aol.com
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stevededominick said 6:04PM on 1-04-2008
Next thing you know they'll tell you cigarettes cause cancer and then expect you to stop smoking....
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