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The Jury’s Still Out on Cell Phone Radiation Risks

Cited: Time

Did you know that over 270 million Americans talk on a cell phone several times every day? Did you also know that yourself on emits low levels of radiofrequency radiation each time you make or receive a call? This is caused many heeded and ongoing debates in the scientific community concerning the health risks of using a mobile phone.

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On Sept. 9, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a public-health advocacy, released a lengthy review of past research linking long-term or frequent cell-phone use with increased rates of brain tumors, migraines and kids’ behavioral problems. For their part, the phone industry and the Federal Government say cell phones are safe. The “majority of studies published have failed to show an association between exposure to radio-frequency from a cell phone and health problems,” states the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on its website. But concerns are high enough that the Senate on Sept. 14 held hearings — led by Democratic Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a brain-cancer survivor — to examine the subject. The outcome: inconclusive. “The current [industry] safety standards are not sufficiently supported,” says Dariusz Leszczynski, a Finnish radiation researcher who spoke at the hearing, “because of the very limited research on human volunteers, children and on the effects of long-term exposure in humans.”

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Despite the government’s view that cell phones pose no danger, some researchers note that most of us have been using them for less than a decade. If there is indeed a cumulative risk to using a mobile phone, it’s possible that users won’t be aware of it until it’s too late — just as it took doctors decades to connect cigarette-smoking with lung cancer. “We all wish we’d heeded the early warnings about cigarettes,” says Olga Naidenko, a senior scientist at EWG and the author of the recent report on cell phones. “We think cell phones are similar.”

That theory is far from certain. While it’s clear that humans absorb weak radiation through handsets (the EWG report noted the particular vulnerability of children, whose skulls, according to a French study, absorb twice as much cell-phone radiation as those of adults), what’s not clear is whether that radiation causes harm. Scientists are waiting for the publication of a $30 million, 14,000-person international study called Interphone, which is meant to nail down the answer once and for all. But the study ended in 2006 and its authors are still squabbling over the interpretation of their data. To date, the “peer-reviewed scientific evidence has overwhelmingly indicated that wireless devices do not pose a public health risk,” says John Walls, a spokesperson for CTIA, the international wireless-industry association.

It seems that better long-term research is needed by an outside source than from the cell phone industry. In fact scientists have even suggested surtax on cell phones to fund such studies. The best scientists can do right now is to suggest that you use your cell phone less to reduce the amount of radiation that bombards your skull. Even better use a low radiation cell phone. You can search the EWG’s online database that ranks the radiation levels of more than 1200 models. (Sorry, Apple fans, your iPhone ranks pretty high.) Of course, you could convert to texting everything like teenagers do. Just remember not to text while driving!

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My Take: Since I do not use a cell phone that much, I’m not worried about the radiation. However, if there is a possibility of that type of radiation causing harm, they should make sure one way or the other. Especially now since children are using cell phones just as much as adults.

If children are more susceptible to low radiation of a cell phone, then they should not be allowed to use a cell phone until they are certain age. The problem is, only the research into this low radiation and cell phones will be able to determine what that age should be. In the meantime, I think parents should restrict cell phone use until there has been a determination.

I remember years ago, the same information was put out about color televisions. It was stated that the radiation that color TVs put out was dangerous to children and the children should be kept a certain number of feet away from the TV. Do you remember we are mom telling you not to sit close to the TV because it would hurt your eyes? I wonder if this was part of the radiation scare that came with color TVs.

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