Print
A nonprofit organization called the Environmental Health Trust (EHT) is lobbying the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to "stop flip-flopping and acknowledge and publicize the risks of cell phone radiation." What the EHT ultimately wants is for the FCC to force cell phone makers to slap a warning label on their devices.
"In terms of awareness of microwave radiation risks from cell phones, the U.S. is far behind other countries, including Switzerland, Israel, France, and Germany," says EHT founder Devra Lee Davis, PhD, MPH. "These nations require cell phone makers to publicize radiation rates directly on phones sold to their citizens, provide special labeling for low radiation phones, and restrict their use by children, who are more vulnerable to radiation."
Cell phone radiation continues to be a controversial topic that pops up from time to time. Back in the summer of 2010, CITA, a group representing mobile phone operators, sought to block an ordinance that requires retailers to post information about the Specific Absorption Rate for phones they sell. Prior to that, The Environment Working Group released a chart showing which mobile phones emit the most radiation.
Comments are closed on this article
allie_valenza
June 29, 2011 at 3:09pm
I have also heard that cell phones are damaging our health but it's hard to believe it. Plus, we are not using them 24 hours per day so I don't think we should worry about this. There are other things that are a threat to our society: pollution, lack of resources, drugs and so on. We need more developed outpatient drug treatments, less polluting cars and factories, more people willing to plant trees. If think of how bad cell phones are we only complicate our lives!
viciousglad
June 28, 2011 at 5:33am
Most people don't know but two minutes on a cell phone compromises the brain-blood barrier. Even more if you spend 2 or more hours per day on a cell phone, and that side of your brain never cools off. So this is a major problem to deal with. Even if we are fighting with other big issues like rehab from alcohol and drugs, see here - Utah Drug Rehabilitation, phones might be the next thing to watch out for.
PhotoSci
March 27, 2011 at 7:39am
It's truly ironic, though sad, that the Environmental Health Trust uses an image of Albert Einstein to promote founder Devra Davis' beliefs that cell phones cause cancer and other ill effects. In 1921 Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect which says, in part, that to eject electrons from one state to another--the mechanism by which radiation can cause cancer--requires that the impinging radiation have a certain minimum energy. Such radiation is called "ionizing radiation".
Cell phone radiation is too low in energy by orders of magnitude to do this. That's why it's called non-ionizing radiation. It doesn't matter how much or how long or how intense--it simply can't happen. The only thing that cell phone radiation can do is cause molecules to roll around or vibrate a bit. That's called heat. But the amount of heat generated by a cell phone is so tiny that it takes extremely precise instrumentation to even measure it, and your body's cooling system handles it with ease. You will hit your body with far more heat radiation by walking into a warm room.
Devra Davis should know all this. She has a Ph.D. in something called "science studies", which presumably includes some science. By using the term "radiation" without qualification, Dr. Davis plays on our fears of the known effects of ionizing radiation like ultraviolet light (which, though non-penetrating, can cause skin cancer) and nuclear radiation (which can be penetrating and cause internal cancers).
Is it absolutely, positively, undeniably for sure that cell phones cannot cause cancer? No, because science doesn't work that way. But is there any credible evidence or a plausible mechanism by which this can happen? Nope. None. Zero, Zip Nada. Zilch.
It is true that using a cell phone can be dangerous--if you're driving or otherwise engaged in dangerous activities. But if you're worried about it causing cancer, there are other precautions you should take first: don't turn on your microwave or wireless router, wear an ice pack on your head when you go out on a warm day, and don't ever get a fever.
Baer
January 21, 2011 at 1:47pm
The radiation varies with the output power. If you have a weak signal the phone powers up some to maintain contact. In my old Ham Radio days we used to be able to bring a florecessent light a few feet from the transmitter antenna and see it "magically" light up with no wired connection. Yes the power output from a cell phone is orders of magnitude less but even a tiny amount of poison will harm you if ingested often enough.
The answer is to use a wired (not BT but wired)headset so that the radiation is not right next to your head.
aviaggio
January 21, 2011 at 11:06am
Haven't scientists debunked this nonsense many times over? No one argues that cellphones give off radiation. But the amount is so small that's it's ridiculous. And I think there was something also about the wavelength of the radiation being too large to be able to have any kind of impact on our cells.
Considering cell phones have been in common use for over 15 years you'd think we'd be seeing a lot of brain cancer "victims". But we aren't. Hmmm, I wonder why...
I Jedi
January 21, 2011 at 6:21am
Come on, anyone half-delusioned to think cell phones are completely harmless is fooling themselves. Now, rather it causes severe/mild symptoms after pro-longed exposure is another matter at hand. Do I believe cell phones should come with a radiation warning, yes. This is just good public practice, as I am sure it will force manufactures to find ways to shield their customers from as much radiation as possible.
Oh, and FIRST TO POST A COMMENT ON THE NEW WEBSITE DESIGN... HA. HA. HA.
