Image by Simone ver.β via FlickrI wish this were an April Fools’ joke, but unfortunately it is not. This is from ConsumerAffairs.com:
There have been a number of health warnings over the years about possible radiation risks associated with the use of mobile phones. In case anyone is not taking these warnings seriously, British health researcher Dr. Vini Khurana puts it in language designed to get your attention:
“Mobile phones could have health consequences far greater than asbestos and smoking,” he said.
Khurana – a neurosurgeon who has published more than 30 scientific papers – reviewed more than 100 studies on the effects of mobile phones. He has written a paper based on the research, which is currently being peer-reviewed for publication in a scientific journal.
Full story here:
Researcher: Cell Phones ‘More Dangerous Than Smoking’
Personally, I’ve suspected this might be a problem for years. I never minded using the first generation cordless phones, that operated at much lower frequencies (and consequently longer bandwidths) – you know, the ones with the telescoping antenna – but my first cordless phone was taken out by a lightning strike (the base, not the handset) and ever since then I’ve tended to avoid using any sort of cordless phone. If, for some reason, I have to use one, I tend to keep the conversation as short as possible, and hold the receiver as far as I can from my head (without making it so I can’t hear the other party). I really dislike the 2.4 GHz models and above – that’s microwave frequencies, and you know what microwaves do to food when concentrated.
I have a feeling that the old cellular “bag phones” were probably safer than anything since (provided you didn’t hold the phone in your lap!), because they kept the transmitter a respectable distance from vital body organs, and in most cases had their antenna on the roof of the car, putting a respectable distance (and/or metal shielding) between the user’s head and the antenna.
I don’t know if cell phone customers will ever get the full truth about this, but I doubt it will be trumpeted in their billing statements. I’d be willing to bet that the cellular industry is already discreetly making inquiries to try and located some “respectable” scientific laboratory that will be willing to go on the record say that it’s all nonsense (it’s not as though large corporations have never paid to get the results they want). Cellular calling is a HUGE industry worldwide, and the last thing the cell phone companies want is their customers spooked about using their phones. Of course, they could do the right thing and build phones that don’t put excessive radiation next to vital organs, but I’m not holding my breath on that one. I’m betting they’ll pay well for the favorable (but dubious) “scientific” studies attempting to discredit Dr. Khurana’s research. I hope I’m wrong, but phone companies rarely disappoint me when I think they are probably going to put profit above doing the right thing.
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e164 said
Hmmmm a little bit of context goes a long way to alleviating FUD.
Where to begin. 2.4Ghz, it’s not actually all that dangerous since it isn’t the ionising radiation, it’ll cook you in large enough doses, but it would alter your DNA which is what you implied. Secondly, microwave ovens are at least 650 watts, cordless phones are measured in milliwatts. A microwave oven works by essentially rubbing water molecules together causing a sort of friction which generates you guessed it heat!
Most wifi devices which also reside in the 2.4Ghz spectrum are usually somewhere between 20 and 100mW (milliWatts), mobile phones are anywhere from 500 to 1000 milliWatts (1000 milliWatts is 1 Watt), and standard phone towers are up to about 8 Watts.
That said the radiation levels drop off at a exponential rate, not linear.
Oh and the bluetooth headsets are only about between 1mW and 10mW usually, which can be 1000 times less radiation next to your head than a mobile phone.
However all that said there is radiation flowing through us constantly, some of it is man made such as the RF transmissions from 2 way communications as discussed in this article, but then you have the 1 way transmissions from radio and TV stations, these things belt out the signal at kilowatts if not megawatts and most of this passes through us all the time quite harmlessly.
Then of course you have natural sources such as background radiation, this can be in the form of natural isotopes decaying in the ground, or even cosmic rays, these are the types that damage your DNA by the way, but the chance of getting hit by the right type in the right way etc usually is pretty minimal.
Finally to qwell the scare mongering, even falling rain causes 2.4Ghz radiation, so you are already being exposed to low levels of it, and in fact have been all your life, how about you go find something real to worry about instead, you’ll probably be more productive and live longer that way
e164 said
Bleh, 2.4Ghz radiation wouldn’t alter your DNA, because it’s non-ionising, high voltage power lines on the other hand is a different matter.
BENZ said
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/emr_motorola_funded_counter_research_on_dna_breakage.pdf
Try searching the research of Dr Henry Lai and Dr Narendra Singh who are the first used a DNA Comet Assay and other people who tested and got the same result.
“Phillips et al. (1998) found highly significant (p<0.0001) DNA-strand
breakage at 0.0024 W/kg exposure to cell phone radiation”
the results seem to be terrible.
BENZ said
2.45 GHz is the water resonance electromagnetic wave.It can harm you eventhrough in miliwatt.And there are too many documents tell you about these dangerouses.You can use google.com for searching these.
Ps.I’m sorry about I’ve not time to go to the details.I must go to protect my country first (we have the same problems as your topic). Good luck.