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The Latest on The Link Between Cell Phone Use and Brain Cancer
Jessica Webb
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Today, over 4 billion people use cell phones worldwide. Some are inseparable from their Blackberry, keeping it constantly at hand. Teenagers send thousands of rapid fire text messages a month. And the sight of a cell phone glued to someone's ear is commonplace. But what if cell phones do us more harm than good?
It is widely known in the scientific community that high doses of radiofrequency radiation emitted by cell phones can infiltrate the body, heat tissues, initiate behavioral problems and harm sensitive tissues like the eyeball and testicle. Despite that, when cell phones first hit the market, federal regulators did not demand that manufactures take necessary precautions to ensure their new products were not harmful.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has just released a report on several scientific studies linking cell phone use to serious health effects; the most well studied and supported being an elevated risk of brain cancer, especially in young children.
As cell phones are a relatively recent invention, scientists know very little about the potential long-term effects of cell phone radiation. In addition, many studies that aim to evaluate the risks of radiation fail to collect subjects that have used cell phones long enough to determine long term risk. For example, in 2003, the FDA deemed cell phones safe, with no harmful health effects due to emissions exposure. The report, however, was based on studies of people that had used cell phones for only three years, certainly far too recent to develop cancer or to conclude that cell phones have no harmful effects.
More recent studies, highlighted in the EWG report, have focused on health concerns associated with using cell phones for 10 years or longer. Findings include an increased risk of developing glioma (a usually malignant brain tumor) on the favored side of the head, a 60% greater risk of acquiring acoustic neuroma (benign brain tumor) and parotid (salivary) gland tumors.
Many studies found that the developing brains of young children absorb far more radiation that those of adults, which may leave them more susceptible to brain tumors. In harmony with these findings, researchers in Sweden found that the highest rate of brain tumors among people were those who began using cell phones at a young age. The National Research Council has reported that exposure to cell phone radiation may affect the immune, endocrine and nervous systems, fetal development and overall metabolism.
Moves have been made to reduce children’s exposure to radiation by health agencies in Switzerland, Germany, Israel, France, United Kingdom, and Finland. Despite this, the two primary U.S. federal regulating agencies, the FDA and the Federal Communication Commission have largely ignored evidence supporting the potential harms of cell phone use.
Dr. Devra Davis, a founding director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, a Healthy Child Board Member, and a pioneer in cancer prevention, is determined to make the risks of cell phone radiation a major public health priority. She says "deeply troubling findings have been reported outside the U.S., where cell phones have been widely used for longer periods of time. These findings show a doubled risk of brain cancer. Many governments, including France, Finland, China and Russia, even advise that children not use cell phones."
"I am not alarmed,” adds Davis, “I am concerned, because the world has changed very rapidly and we have a right to know.”
Here are 6 Recommendations from EWG to reduce cell phone radiation exposure:
1. Buy a low-radiation phone. Check how much radiation your cell phone emits and consider replacing you phone with one that emits the lowest radiation.
2. Use a headset or speaker. Headsets emit far less radiation that phones. Some wireless headsets emit continuous, low level radiation, so take yours off your head when not on the phone.
3. Hold the phone away from your body. Try not to hold your phone against your ear, in your breast pocket or on your torso where sensitive body tissue can absorb radiation. If you must carry your cell phone on you, make sure that the keypad is positioned toward your body and the back is positioned toward the outside so that the transmitted electromagnetic fields move away from your rather than through you.
4. Choose texting over talking. Your phone uses less energy (less radiation) when texting.
5. Limit children’s use of the phone. Young children’s brains can absorb twice the cell phone radiation than adults. Advice your children to use their cell phone sparingly or only in an emergency situation.
6. Lastly, please help us tell the government to update its cell phone standards. According to the EWG, current standards provide 40 times less protection than typical government health limits for environmental exposures.
