Cell Phones a Greater Threat Than Smoking, Asbestos?
There are plenty of people out there who believe that talking on a cell phone is just as unhealthy as sticking your head in front of an active X-Ray machine and holding it there while you engage in idle conversation with a friend. Others, though, think the first group are being overly paranoid and probably are the sort who won't use a public restroom under any circumstances for fear of picking up a flesh-eating virus. Scientific findings are still rather divided on this one, with most indicating that mobiles are perfectly safe, but an Australian researcher is bucking the trend, saying that cell phone use is a greater global threat than cigarette smoking or breathing asbestos.
Dr. Vini Khurana of Canberra Hospital doesn't actually believe that, on an individual basis, cell phones are more dangerous than those things that have been conclusively shown to be deadly in the right concentrations. However, due to the global spread of mobile phones, he believes they provide a much greater overall threat to people worldwide than either of the other two. He cites eight worldwide studies indicating a link between cell phone use and brain tumors, "a life-ending diagnosis in the vast majority of those diagnosed," and believes that in the next four years more studies will prove the link.
In the mean time we'll keep holding on to the 2005 study from the European Institute of Cancer Research that showed no cancer link among the 4,000 people who participated, and maybe try to keep our calls to a minimum.
From NEWS.com.au
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jon Kaney @ Mar 31st 2008 1:00PM
What about blue tooth? Any study on the difference in radiation?
Professor @ Mar 31st 2008 1:39PM
Before you naysay any links of cell phone use to cancer: PLEASE READ: 1) Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel discovered that exposure to even low levels of radiation from mobile handsets could interfere with how brain cells divide, thus causing tumors. 2) Stanford University and Integrated Laboratory Systems in Research Triangle Park, NC found chromosomal changes in blood cells subjected to the same type of electromagnetic radiation emitted by hand-held cell phones. 3)Dr. Sadetzki, a physician, epidemiologist and lecturer at Tel Aviv University, published the results of a study recently in the American Journal of Epidemiology, in which she and her colleagues found that heavy cell phone users were subject to a higher risk of benign and malignant tumors of the salivary gland. 4)DTX pulse frequency at 2 Hz and the TDMA frequency of 8·34 Hz correspond to frequencies of electrical oscillations found in the human brain, specifically the delta and alpha brain-waves, respectively. It is thus quite possible that living organisms have a two-fold sensitivity to the pulsed GSM signal--ie, to both the microwave carrier and the lower frequency pulsing of the TDMA and DTX signals. These and other studies suggest that not only does heavy cell phone use cause detrimental changes in users brain tissue,but also we maybe well into a virtual epidemic of EMF caused illnesses.
jm @ Mar 31st 2008 3:59PM
From 1990 to 2002, the overall age-adjusted incidence rates for brain cancer decreased slightly; from 7.0 cases to 6.4 cases for every 100,000 persons in the United States.
Looking at long term trends for specific age groups, there is an increase in incidence and this is due, at least in part, to the improvements in the ability to diagnose brain tumors in elderly patients.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/braintumorstudy
ed suarez @ Mar 31st 2008 11:16PM
One item that was not discussed is whether using hands free devices on the ear minimize the threat.
Vini G. Khurana @ Apr 1st 2008 4:48AM
To "jm" quoting a fall in age-adjusted cancer rates, please visit
www.cbtrus.org, one of the most comprehensive US-based sites for the collection and analysis of brain tumour incidence data, and read their report. You will note an overall 15% increase in primary brain tumour incidence between the 1994 and 2002 datasets (all acquired in the US's MRI era), and this rate of increase is validated by several studies as quoted on brain-surgery.us/mobilephone.html
VGK