|
What Causes Cell Phone Radiation and How Does it Effect Your Body? What is so
popular with young teenagers today? Cell phones. Walking around on campus to
walking around at the mall with your cell phone may seem fashionable and trendy,
but did you now that it might be causing you to get a cancer? Ninety percent of
cell phone holders do not realize it and it should be something everyone should
be aware of. It may seem a bit unusually how a cell phone can cause a child or
an adult to get cancer, but it is true. New evidence is growing fast about
health risks from mobile phones – electromagnetic radiation. These devices can
be used to make telephone calls from almost anywhere. Symptoms such as fatigue,
headaches, burning sensations on the skin were more common among those who make
longer phone calls. At the same time there are a growing number of unconfirmed
reports of individuals whose health has been affected after chronic, frequent
use of mobile phones, presumably from radiation effects on cell. There are two
types of phones, one has the antenna mounted on the handset and the other has
the antenna mounted on a separate transmitter or, if the telephone is installed
in a vehicle, mounted on the roof or rear window. Communication between a mobile
telephone and the nearest base station is achieved by the microwave emissions
from the antenna. Concerns have been raised about the type of mobile telephone
that has the antenna in the handset. In this case, the antenna is very close to
the user's head during normal use of the telephone and there is concern about
the level of microwave emissions to which the brain is being exposed.
Those
telephones that have the antenna mounted elsewhere are of no concern, since
exposure levels decrease rapidly with increasing distance from the antenna.
Cordless telephones, which need to be operated within about 20 meters of a base
unit that is connected directly to the telephone system do not have any health
concerns associated with their use because exposure levels are very low. . Media
reports have claimed that up to 70 percent of the microwave emissions from hand-
held mobile telephones may be absorbed in the user's head. This is not supported
by the evidence, but nevertheless leads to speculation that hot spots may be
created in the user's brain, thereby raising concerns that the telephones may be
a health risk. Other reports have indicated that mobile telephone users suffer
localized headaches when they use their telephone. At this stage, it is
difficult to evaluate the evidence supporting these reports, since they have not
been published. This work on human subjects follows other phone studies in
animals suggesting that radiation from mobiles may cause brain tumors, cancer,
anxiety, memory loss and serious birth defects. An Australian study found that
mice exposed to pulsed digital phone radiation over 18 months had twice the risk
of developing cancers. An American study found that learning and short term
memory were impaired after 45 minutes exposure to radiation from phones in rats.
And other studies of electromagnetic radiation on pregnant mice suggest that
high exposure can affect intra-uterine development, confirmed recently in
chicks.
The effects in humans are unknown. In Britain a 27 year old woman with a
brain tumor is taking a mobile phone manufacturer to court who she blames for
her tumor. A biologist, Roger Coghill has also been given permission to bring a
case against a provider of mobile phone equipment for failing to warn people of
radiation hazards. A wide variety of electrical devices contribute to electro
smog, ranging from computers, to phones, TV sets, radar transmitter and
transformers. However mobile phone radiation is certainly intense, as evidenced
by the effects on aircraft navigation systems, or more obviously on a nearby
conventional telephone or a music system The brain cancer reports originated in
the USA where a number of lawsuits have been lodged against mobile telephone
manufacturers and suppliers. These claims for damages allege that the microwave
emissions from mobile telephones used by the claimants caused their brain
cancers. Those few cases that have been tried have been dismissed for lack of
supporting evidence. Microwaves are but one type of electromagnetic field of the
ways that these fields are described is by specifying their frequency. The range
of frequencies that are useful for telecommunications include microwaves. Some
public concern about mobile telephones is erroneously based on media attention
to the possibility of adverse effects from exposure to power-line
electromagnetic fields, which have a much lower frequency than the microwaves
emitted by mobile telephones.
The physical properties and biological effects of
these fields are very different from microwaves and it is meaningless to
extrapolate the results of those studies to the subject of this Information
Bulletin. The current Australian exposure Standard is based on the
well-established thermal effects of exposure to microwaves. That is, when tissue
is exposed to sufficiently high levels of microwaves, the tissue is heated and
damage may occur. The exposure limits are set well below levels where any
significant heating occurs. The Standard also sets limits for pulsed radiation
that are intended to eliminate possible effects where heating is not evident.
All mobile telephones marketed in Australia must satisfy the regulatory
requirements of Austel the Australian Telecommunications Authority, as well as
that part of the Australian Standard that sets limits on the power output of a
mobile telephone. Therefore, use of a mobile telephone is not expected to cause
significant heating in any part of the body, including the brain. Some research
has indicated that non-thermal effects resulting from low-level microwave
exposure also occur. However, the existence of these effects has not been
sufficiently established to allow for them in the Standard. A few animal studies
suggest that exposure to weak microwave fields can accelerate the development of
cancer. Further studies are required to establish their reproducibility and the
existence or otherwise of a dose-response relationship. Whether these results
are relevant to users of mobile telephones is not clear. In any event, these
results cannot be dismissed at this stage. The very few studies that have been
conducted on human populations epidemiological studies do not provide any direct
information on possible mobile telephone hazards and hence are of limited value.
The results of these studies are difficult to interpret because exposure levels
were either not measured or impossible to determine from the data provided. In
general, however, this type of study will be useful in identifying possible
links between mobile telephone use and cancer risk. Complementary cellular and
animal research is required to establish any cause-and-effect relationship and
the biological mechanisms involved. The Australian Radiation Laboratory
continues to closely monitor the research being conducted in this area. On the
specific issue of brain cancer occurring in users of these telephones, it is
important to note that such cancers existed before the introduction of mobile
telephones. It is simply not possible to identify the cause of any single case
of cancer. Long-term studies to investigate whether mobile telephone users have
a greater incidence of, say, brain cancer than the general population have not
been completed. The Commonwealth Government has established the Electromagnetic
Energy Public Health Issues Committee to examine and advise on the adequacy of
health exposure standards, compliance procedures, local and overseas research
results and the potential for further research, all with respect to mobile
telephone use, among other things. The Committee includes representatives from
the Department of Health and Family Services, the Department of Communications
and the Arts and the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Mobile telephone
companies and service providers are not represented. Late in 1996, the
Commonwealth Government announced that $4.5mil would be provided for an
Australian research and public information program over the next 4-5 years.
The
National Health and Medical Research Council will manage this research program.
There is no evidence that microwave exposure from mobile telephones causes
cancer, and inconclusive evidence that such exposure accelerates the growth of
an already-existing cancer. More research on this issue needs to be carried out.
Users concerned about the possibility of health effects can minimize their using
a mobile telephone which does not have the antenna in the handset or using a
'hands-free' attachment. There is no clear evidence in the existing scientific
literature that the use of digital or analogue mobile telephones poses a
long-term public health hazard There are five ways to reduce the risk of
radiation going in your body. One is to have shorter conversation. Try to avoid
speaking for long periods on the cell phone; furthermore, try to plan your calls
in such a way that you use ordinary phones for long conversations. Second, don’t
sit in the car. Speak as little as possible inside the car because it amplifies
the radiation. If you have to speak a lot from the care, get a roof antenna.
Third, protect your baby. Don’t place a turned-on mobile phone in the baby
carriage. The mobile phone produces microwaves even if you don’t speak in it.
Fourth, avoid waist. Don’t carry the cell phone in the belt round the waist. It
is unnecessary to expose the deposits of bone marrow in the hips, and the
testicles to the microwaves. Earlier there have been warnings against placing
the phone next to the heart. This is now regarded as being less dangerous,
unless you have a pacemaker. The best place to carry the phone is in a military
trousers leg pocket. And finally, direct the antenna. Always pull out the
antenna when you use the phone and direct it away from the head, not upright in
parallel with the head. It may be a marginal difference, but it reduces the
radiation into the head somewhat.
|
