Cell Phone Myths Explained 3
Cell phones cause cancer
Myth: Prolonged cell phone use can cause brain cancer or tumors because of radiation.
True or false? Debatable. Ever since cell phones became popular, both the media and average people have claimed that cell phones can cause cancer. Unfortunately, there have been many medical studies on the issue and they still don't offer any definitive proof. A 2005 study of 4,000 Europeans by the Institute of Cancer Research found no link to any types of cancer among regular phone users, but did say that radiation could potentially cause adverse effects, so moderation was recommended. Last month, an Israeli scientist claimed that phone use causes tumors in salivary glands, saying that regular users had an increased risk of 50% for developing tumors. A few weeks before that, an Australian cancer specialist said the exact opposite (same goes for coffee and breast implants). For now, this one seems like a personal choice, so proceed at your own risk.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kat @ Mar 18th 2008 11:48AM
To see many studies offering definitive proof about the harmful health effects of cell phones, go to www.powerwatch.org.uk. There are many such sites on the web, but this is one of the best and easiest to use. France, Germany, and England government officials have all stated that cell phones should not be used by teenagers. Only in America are we so ignorant about the research, due to the power of the industry and their influence on the media. Statements such as the above, that "Unfortunately, there have been many medical studies on the issue and they still don't offer any definitive proof," are blatantly uninformed at best or written to deceive at worst. Wake up and educate yourself, please.
whitney @ Mar 23rd 2008 8:31AM
Cell phones emit the lowest signal strength of most every radio frequency device being used; their signal sterngth is measured in milliwatts (.001 Watts), not Watts. The towers that "talk" to the cell phones typically broadcast between 35 to 150 Watts, depending on their height above the terrain and the location of the next tower (typically between 2-1/2 air miles to 5 air miles). The internal intermediate oscilator of the old vacuum tube radios and TV sets in our homes put out more signal strength than the modern portable cell phones. Many times you can't get reception on your cell phone in the basement of your house, but you can receive a TV signal on your TV set with a whip antenna; why, because the TV tower antenna puts out 50,000 Watts of energy and so do the clear channel AM radio stations. Even the "local" FM radio stations put out 5,000 Watts of signal strength; their reception ability is limited not by their power output, but by the fact that their higher frequency, megahertz (million cycles) as opposed to kilohertz (thousand cycles), and their higher frequency signal can't bend down to follow the curvature of the earth, so they pass into space. So why don't all the folks that live near the radio and TV stations get cancer? How about all the construction workers and soldiers in the military who use the handitalkie radios (walkitalkies are caried on the back not held in the hand), and all those performers that use wireless microphones, they don't seem to have any cancer problems. THINK ABOUT IT!!! Written by a US Army Signal Corps officer & Electronics Engineer.
Katherine @ Mar 24th 2008 1:41PM
Part of the problem when investigating this subject is that the rate of cancer is actually low. If it were only 2%, for example, then a 50% increase would be 3%. Still low. There are so many variables, so many possible causes of cancer, it is difficult to decide what constitutes acceptable risk. A lot also depends on the intuition and attitude of the researcher. The 'gold standard' double-blind study just doesn't work very well in most cases of medical research.