By

Ben
Jorgensen, Editor
The Clearwater Progress
December 24, 2002
Graphics added by blog host
Talking too
much on a cell phone could make
you sick. But just as with the
history of cigarettes, there are plenty who deny any health dangers
associated with cell phones.
Meanwhile, the cancers are starting to add up.
More and more studies are linking cell phone use to a host of cancers,
behavioral issues and other disorders. The issue hit national headlines
last weekend when the state of Maine began mulling a decision to put
health warnings on new cell phones.
If passed, the bill would require phone manufacturers to warn customers
about the potential for developing brain cancer that is associated with
electromagnetic radiation emitted from cell phones.
More than 270 million people subscribed to cell service in the United
States last year, according to a report by the Associated Press.
The health danger is especially real for children, said Professor Kjell
Mild of Orbero University, Sweden, who says a childs thinner skull is
deeply penetrated by a cell phones energy.
Electromagnetic radiation from a cell phone can penetrate almost
straight through the brain of a 5-year-old child. The impacts may also
affect child behavior.
In 2008 the UCLA School of Public Health announced a possible link
between cell phone exposure and behavioral problems in young children.
A study conducted with University of Aarhus, Institute of Public Health
in Denmark, found: Children who were exposed to cell phones before
and/or after birth tended to have higher prevalence of emotional
symptoms, behavioral problems, inattention, hyperactivity and problems
with peers

According
to EMF & Health: A Global Issue, research indicates that children
and teenagers are five times more likely to develop brain cancer if
they use cell phones.
Professor Lennart Hardell of Sweden stated that, people who started
mobile phone use before the age of 20 had more than fivefold increase
in glioma, a cancer of the glial cells that support the central nervous
system.
Cordless phones are not much better, producing a fourfold risk of
cancer among children.
While children are more susceptible to the energy emitted from cell
phones, adults are by no means immune.
A $28 million research project funded by the Cellular Telephone
Industry Association (CTIA) keep in mind that this is an
industry-sponsored study produced surprising (to them) results:
A nearly 300 percent increase in the incidence of genetic damage when
human blood cells were exposed to radiation in the cellular frequency
band.
A significant increase in cell phone users risk of brain tumors at the
brains outer edge, on whichever side the cell phone was held most
often.
A 60 percent greater chance of acoustic neuromas, a tumor affecting the
nerve that controls hearing, among people who had used cell phones for
six years or more.
A higher rate of brain cancer deaths among handheld mobile phone users
than among car phone users (car phones are mounted on the dashboard
rather than held next to your head).
Despite such findings,

CTIA
was quoted in an AP article last weekend that, The peer-reviewed
scientific evidence has overwhelmingly indicated that wireless devices
do not pose a public health risk.
Really?
Perhaps they never read the 2007 BioInitiative Report. The 600+ page
report documents scientific concerns about the current safety
regulations on how much radiation is allowable from power lines, cell
phones, and many other sources of exposure to radio frequencies and
electromagnetic fields.
The report details that even low energy levels can create severe health
repercussions.
The report is the product of an international group of scientists,
researchers and public health policy professionals who reviewed over
2,000 studies on the known biological effects of electromagnetic
radiation and its impacts on the immune function, the neurological
system, and much more at substantially lower levels than current FCC
exposure guidelines allow for industry.
The group concluded that the existing standards for public safety do
not come close to protecting our health. For emissions from wireless
devices (cell phones, personal digital assistant or PDA devices, etc.)
there is enough evidence for increased risk of brain tumors and
acoustic neuromas now to warrant intervention with respect to their
use.
It is known that 20-80% of a cell phones radiation is deposited into
the head of the user. Researchers have discovered that animals exposed
to cell phone radiation suffered double-strand DNA breakage the type
of genetic alterations that can lead to cancer, cell death and
mutagenic problems.
Many people may believe cell phones are safe because there does not
appear to be any immediate noticeable effects to their health. But
scientists note that many of the cancers linked to cell phone use can
take 10-30 years to develop.
Tumor immunologist Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University
of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), has publicly spoken out about
the dangers of cell phones, urging immediate action be taken to protect
lives.
Really at the heart

of my
concern is that we shouldnt wait for a definitive study to come out,
but err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later, Herberman
said.
Iowa senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions Committee, vowed to investigate links between cell
phone use and cancer.
Im reminded of this nations experience with cigarettes, Harkin
said. Decades passed between the first warnings about smoking tobacco
and the final definitive conclusion that cigarettes cause lung cancer.
While America debates the science other nations have been attempting to
protect their constituents health. In regard to cell phone use the
U.K., Belgium, Germany, France and Russia have introduced precautionary
standards.
As the BioIntitiative Report concludes: We cannot afford business as
usual any longer. It is time that planning for new power lines and for
new homes, schools and other habitable spaces around them is done with
routine provision for low-ELF environments.
That was two years ago when there were millions fewer cell phones and
far less saturation of EMF radiation in homes, schools and businesses.
As many researchers have discovered, exposure to EMF radiation can be
cumulative.
How
many brain cancers will it take to change minds?