Cell Phone Health Hazards

For a child who is born today, it would be nearly impossible to imagine a time when there were no mobile phones. For many who have seen those times, it would be nearly impossible to imagine a life without one because ever since phones became mobile, people don’t just carry a gadget, but a whole lifestyle, in their pockets. While on one hand, our lives have become much easier with the cell phone being our ever-ready solution to everything, the flipside of increased cell phone usage is reflected in much research.

From contacting someone by calling or texting to surfing the internet, from being used as a calculator to being used as an organizer, from showing directions through GPS to being used as a torch, when you start thinking about it, you come to realize how much our lives are dependent on our cell phones. Over the years, however, a large number of studies have shown a link between mobile phone usage and cancer risks, which could mean that this very dependency of ours may be pushing us towards an unavoidable health disaster.

According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, the concerns about mobile phones causing certain kinds of cancers or other health-related issues are due to a few factors:

• The emission of radio waves or radio frequency (RF) energy from a mobile phone is seen as a sort of radiation that is currently being studied for the impact it has on people’s health.

• There has been a drastic rise in the number of people using cell phones. As of 2010, 91 percent of the U.S. population has a cell phone subscription.

A 2010 book titled ¬‘Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What The Industry Has Done To Hide It And How To Protect Your Family’ by noted American scientist Dr. Devra Davis, suggests that the risks posed by cell phone radiation have been ignored for a long time, expressing fears the problem could become an even bigger threat – ‘a catastrophe’ – in no more than three years’ time.
A 2007 study by Swedish professor Dr. Lennart Hardell, based on reviews of papers written on epidemiology, concluded that:
• Mobile phone subscribers raised the dangers of cancerous gliomas.
• There is a relationship between the usage of cell phones and a greater number of acoustic neuroma cases.
• There was more likelihood of the occurrence of malignant growth or tumor on the side of the head where the cell phone is used.
• Daily one hour usage of cell phone could cause a significant rise in the risk of a tumor ten or more years later.

The studies have, however, failed to show a decisive relationship between the usage of mobile phones and cancer. According to Interphone (2010), considering everything, cell phone subscribers did not face any elevated threats for the two most commonly occurring kinds of tumors in the brain, which are meningioma and glioma. Even though a higher danger of glioma occurrence was found, a minor percentage of participants did mention using a cell phone for calls mostly, the scientists still failed to reach a conclusion.

The reports may be inconclusive, however, as consumers we should exercise caution by possibly cutting down on our daily cell phone usage. Also, as Dr. Davis suggests, it’s better to carry a cell phone in a bag while traveling in order to keep it away from coming in contact with our body.