There’s always been a fuss about cell radiation affecting the brain and what-not, but has there been any research into its effects on the lower regions? I usually keep my cell in my front pants pocket, and many people keep them on belt-clips, which keeps them a lot closer to gonads and ovaries than you’d normally keep a device known to emanate radiation. Anyone know?
The radiation from a cell phone has never been proven to have any effect whatsoever on any part of the human body, no matter how close it is to you, and no matter how long it’s there. The “fuss” about cell phone radiation affecting the brain has been just that: fuss. No facts.
So all these guys are plain wrong then?
There may be many studies that say many different things and various conclusions may be overstated, but it is simply incorrect to maintain that there is no evidence whatsoever.
I’m immediately suspicious of anyone who bills himself as a “futurist.” Call it prejudice, if you like, but that label screams “nut with an agenda.” At any rate, according to the National Cancer Institute, there are currently no studies that indicate any link between cellphone use and brain tumors:
Here,
These folks certainly don’t have any particular axe to grind. Being good scientists, however, they do leave the door open to future findings.
Aro’s link refers to a study announced in August 2002. Your links predate this study.
Still, that study looked at users of older analog cell phones. The same study found no link between the newer GSM phones and brain tumor. This BBC article give a more balanced (in my opinion) overview of the study.
The study on the page I linked to is from research published in March 2003. It was covered extensively in the media here in the UK and it reportedly superseded previous research.
From here:
Seems that it may be still a little early to accept his (Mild’s) conclusions, but considering that many such studies are now finding (albeit tenuous) links, it may be prudent not dismiss the findings as completely wrong before some further independent verification. But equally, as you said, best not to jump to any wild conclusions or panic unnecessarily about the ‘proposed’ threat.
Guess I’ll jump right back on that fence again.
Aro, the reason that these studies are not widely accepted is that we know pretty much about electromagnetic signals, and there’s just no way that they could cause this damage according to our current extensive understanding.
There have been quite a few studies done, many finding no correlation, and some finding a correlation. Studies like this are extremely difficult to get right, because there are so many effects that need to be controlled for. Especially important (I would think) would be recall bias and confounding variables.
About the physics, the radiation from cell phones (in the 900 MHz and 1900 MHz ranges) is what’s called “non-ionizing” radiation, meaning that it’s not concentrated enough to cause an electron to jump to another level, therefore it can’t cause direct changes to chemistry. It can jiggle the molecules around slightly, so if there’s a whole bunch of it, it can heat things up, and of course heat can cause damage. But the temperature rise from the amount of power from a cell phone is completely negligible - the amount your head heats up using a hair dryer is many thousands of times greater, maybe millions. So we’re left with no plausible mechanism for it. Now there’s always the possibility that cancer could be caused by a mechanism that we don’t understand yet. Again, the problem with this is that we understand how microwaves interact with matter really really well already. Since we don’t have a plausible mechanism, then the epidemiological data showing an effect would have to be really convincing to persuade most scientists, and the studies done so far just haven’t done that.
Setting aside, for the moment, the fact that they don’t seem to do anything to any sort of living tissue… Do you usually talk on your phone while it’s on your belt-clip? The phone is only emitting anything at all when you’re calling someone or on the phone with them. Sure, there’re radio waves coming from the tower when someone calls you, but you’re getting those waves anyway, regardless of whether you have a phone, and they won’t be made any stronger by the presence of a phone near your crotch.
Not quite. When someone calls you the system has to locate you (or more accurately, your phone). When your phone receives a signal from the network, it sends one back to acknowledge. Granted, it’s a brief signal, but there it is.
My understanding (cite) is that if your cell phone is on, it is occasionally transmitting to the local towers, so that the phone system knows which cell you are in.