# Another cell-phone use is dangerous study **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 19, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864 "2008-05-19T17:06:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/1 "2008-05-19T17:06:32Z")
[Link.](http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/warning-using-a-mobile-phone-while-pregnant-can-seriously-damage-your-baby-830352.html) Thumbnail: A study of over 13,000 women seems to show that cell phone use while pregnant could lead to behavioral problems in children. Surprising and notable is that one of the researchers had previously strongly advocated against cell phones being harmful. Is this likely? And if it is, is it likely to have any affect? Will pregnant women stop using cell phones? I know I’m gonna show this article to my pregnant wife tonight. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/2 "2008-05-19T17:11:57Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] I know I’m gonna show this article to my pregnant wife tonight. [/QUOTE] It’s kinda scary . . . You’d better get her good and drunk first. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/3 "2008-05-19T17:13:20Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] It’s kinda scary . . . You’d better get her good and drunk first. [/QUOTE] Maybe give a cigarette or two to calm her down? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/4 "2008-05-19T17:16:22Z")
> [@linked article](#): > > They add that there might be other possible explanations that they did not examine – such as that mothers who used the phones frequently might pay less attention to their children […] This was my first thought. But it’s hard to include something that subjective in a study. This is interesting, nonetheless. I’ll make sure not to use a cell phone if I get pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/5 "2008-05-19T17:22:27Z")
You could try heroin to…I’ve heard that is effective. In a pinch just roll her a joint… I have to say that reading the article, it sounds like bullshit to me on first glance. First off, until the results are repeated in further studies I would take it with a grain of salt in any case. Some of the other things they mention in the article (other kinds of damage, etc) have never been proved in clinical studies before afaik…yet they are casually tossed into the article. There have been clinical studies in the past showing all manner of wild stuff…yet in the followups they weren’t repeatable. I’d need to actually read the study and see what methodology they used and what criteria they are using to determine if children are “hyperactivity and difficulties with conduct, emotions and relationships by the time they reached school age.” That seems difficult to me to judge (seems subjective to me) an also difficult to pin on any one cause…perhaps people who use cell phones are pre-disposed to this kind of behavior either physically or through how they were raised (and thus pass these traits on through heredity or how they subsequently raise their own kids)? Who knows? I would take one study like this with a very large grain of salt myself…especially considering the hysteria about cell phones in some quarters. -XT ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/6 "2008-05-19T17:40:53Z")
Um, what the hell? This study shows correllation between mobile phone use and behavorial problems in kids, and that’s it. Unless this study was much more medically intrusive than it sounded like, this study did _not_ show that cell phone radiation damages unborn children. Cell phone radiation _does not interact with the human body_. Jeez, it’s like that whole power line EMF bullshit years back. It’s just amazing all things cells phones can cause despite not actually being able to affect you. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/7 "2008-05-19T17:54:44Z")
I’ll trust this research as far as I can throw the containing journal, which as of now, is abolutely nowhere. [http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com/spa/ovidweb.cgi?&S=DBDHFPBECFDDOMNKNCHLHDGJGCPPAA00&Browse=Toc+Children|YES|S.sh.2.14.15|298|60](http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com/spa/ovidweb.cgi?&S=DBDHFPBECFDDOMNKNCHLHDGJGCPPAA00&Browse=Toc+Children%7cYES%7cS.sh.2.14.15%7c298%7c60) Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s unethical and verging on idiotic to release inflammatory findings two full months before your research is published. ---
**Author:** ![flex727](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@flex727](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flex727)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/8 "2008-05-19T22:43:38Z")
[QUOTE=hotflungwok] Um, what the hell? This study shows correllation between mobile phone use and behavorial problems in kids, and that’s it. Unless this study was much more medically intrusive than it sounded like, this study did _not_ show that cell phone radiation damages unborn children. Cell phone radiation _does not interact with the human body_. Jeez, it’s like that whole power line EMF bullshit years back. It’s just amazing all things cells phones can cause despite not actually being able to affect you. [/QUOTE] Absolutely! And even if there were some sort of subtle interaction, they don’t seem to understand that the study was performed with _analog_ cell phones, which put out far higher radiation levels than modern digital cell phones. Furthermore, during the time period of this study, there was a distinct difference in socio-economic status between users and non-users of cell phones. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/9 "2008-05-20T02:50:23Z")
[QUOTE=hotflungwok] Cell phone radiation _does not interact with the human body_. Jeez, it’s like that whole power line EMF bullshit years back. It’s just amazing all things cells phones can cause despite not actually being able to affect you. [/QUOTE] But magnetic fields do affect the human brain. > **[Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication](https://www.jmu.edu/wrtc/index.shtml?jmu_redir=r_writeon)** > > Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication They appear to cause DNA damage in rats: [http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2004/6355/abstract.html](http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2004/6355/abstract.html) Magnetic field and melatonin: > **[Effects of 50 Hz magnetic fields on human physiology: plasma melatonin levels](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/666445/;jsessionid=770D0C73E7FB9983EDC08E1EE93ECC3A)** > > Plasma melatonin levels have been measured throughout the evening and night in a group of 30 male volunteers in response to a single exposure of 50 Hz magnetic fields for a few hours. Those exposed before the start of the evening rise in melatonin... This one contains info on “three established physical mechanisms through which” magnetic fields affect us: > **[Magnetic fields (HSG 27, 1989)](https://www.inchem.org/documents/hsg/hsg/hsg027.htm)** Doesn’t affect sensory threshold, does affect pain threshold: [http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15780154](http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15780154) Abstract indicates a statistically significant result in this one: > **[Taylor & Francis - Fostering human progress through knowledge](https://taylorandfrancis.com)** > > Taylor & Francis publishes knowledge and specialty research spanning humanities, social sciences, science and technology, engineering, medicine and healthcare. Magnetically stimulating eye-control areas of brain: [http://jocn.mitpress.org/cgi/content/abstract/14/7/1109](http://jocn.mitpress.org/cgi/content/abstract/14/7/1109) The world and our bodies are complex, it’s possible there is an indirect effect from the radiation, or it’s possible the radiation is 100% safe. Clearly the EMF interacts with our bodies, so it’s possible it could cause problems. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/10 "2008-05-20T09:07:51Z")
> [@](#): > > …using the handsets just two or three times a day was enough to raise the risk of their babies developing hyperactivity and difficulties with conduct, emotions and relationships by the time they reached school age. Maybe the phone-wielding parents had simply brought their kids up to have a neurotic need for remote contact, as often exhibited in youngsters these days. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/11 "2008-05-20T13:22:10Z")
[QUOTE=RaftPeople] But magnetic fields do affect the human brain. [/QUOTE] So what? What does that have to do with type of radiation used by cell phones? > [@](#): > > The world and our bodies are complex, it’s possible there is an indirect effect from the radiation, or it’s possible the radiation is 100% safe. Clearly the EMF interacts with our bodies, so it’s possible it could cause problems. OMG, we don’t know everything about EMFs, so just maybe possibly they hurt us! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/12 "2008-05-20T13:40:52Z")
**Raftpeople,** are you aware that you are constantly and continuously being bathed by electromagnetic waves of all kinds as you read this message? They are from the power lines in your home or office, the computer you are sitting in front of, and the radio and TV signals picked up by the radio and TV across the room. Not to mention leakage from your microwave. We know that very high doses of EMF can affect some biological processes. The question is, how much and what kind? The jury is still out on this one. Any test of one source must contend with the existence of all of the others and be able to separate and quantify both the dose and effect. Think about that the next time you run across a report or study. Do the numbers back up the claim or are they only semi-attached figures? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/13 "2008-05-20T13:54:36Z")
[QUOTE=flex727] Furthermore, during the time period of this study, there was a distinct difference in socio-economic status between users and non-users of cell phones. [/QUOTE] According to the article they accounted for differences in economic status between cel users and non-users. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/14 "2008-05-20T13:55:38Z")
[QUOTE=Staggerlee] Maybe the phone-wielding parents had simply brought their kids up to have a neurotic need for remote contact, as often exhibited in youngsters these days. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I’ve seen these “cell phone mothers.” Mom’s yapping on the phone to her BFF and the kid’s barking for attention, “Mom, lookee! Mom! Mom! Mommy! Lookit!” …and gets utterly ignored. It’s hardly a surprised that these kids gropw up with behavioral issues. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/15 "2008-05-20T15:10:14Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] **Raftpeople,** are you aware that you are constantly and continuously being bathed by electromagnetic waves of all kinds as you read this message? They are from the power lines in your home or office, the computer you are sitting in front of, and the radio and TV signals picked up by the radio and TV across the room. Not to mention leakage from your microwave. [/quote] Yep, I am aware of all that. > [@](#): > > We know that very high doses of EMF can affect some biological processes. The question is, how much and what kind? The jury is still out on this one. Any test of one source must contend with the existence of all of the others and be able to separate and quantify both the dose and effect. The jury is not out on whether magnetic fields affect some biological processes. Read some of the links in my previous post, including the ones where they use magnetic fields to control areas of the human brain for research. If the jury was still out they would have a hard time using this method in their research. > [@](#): > > Think about that the next time you run across a report or study. Do the numbers back up the claim or are they only semi-attached figures? I think you may have misunderstood the purpose of my post. **hotflungwok** stated “…despite **not actually being able to affect you.** ” I was correcting his/her factually incorrect statement that cell phones are not able to affect you. I wasn’t stating that the study is correct, just correcting the statement that the study is by definition not correct due to lack of a mechanism. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/16 "2008-05-20T17:21:19Z")
[QUOTE=RaftPeople] I think you may have misunderstood the purpose of my post. **hotflungwok** stated “…despite **not actually being able to affect you.** ” I was correcting his/her factually incorrect statement that cell phones are not able to affect you. I wasn’t stating that the study is correct, just correcting the statement that the study is by definition not correct due to lack of a mechanism. [/QUOTE] Actually, you failed to correct it. All you’ve shown is that in a few very specific instances, some forms of radiation can cause some effects on a human. This is already known and not what I’m arguing. When you can show that the radiation specific to cells phones causes harmful effects to human, then you can prove me wrong. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-cell-phone-use-is-dangerous-study/449864/17 "2008-05-20T18:10:19Z")
[QUOTE=hotflungwok] Actually, you failed to correct it. All you’ve shown is that in a few very specific instances, some forms of radiation can cause some effects on a human. This is already known and not what I’m arguing. When you can show that the radiation specific to cells phones causes harmful effects to human, then you can prove me wrong. [/QUOTE] Please forgive me, I must have misunderstood you. When you stated “…despite not actually being able to affect you.” I thought you meant that they are not actually able to affect you.