Cell Phones May Cause Cancer
Have you read this?
Would you care to comment?
On May 31, 2011 the World Health Organization (WHO) announced their classification of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (EMG) emitted from cell phones as “possibly carcinogenic,” and more recently published the evidence and rationale supporting their conclusion.[1]
1. Monograph Working Group. Carcinogenicity of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. Lancet Oncol. 2011;12:624-625.
Essentially what the WHO says is that there is some evidence that the electromagnetic fields emitted by cell phones may cause brain cancer. Although there are some statistics that suggest this, there are others that dispute it. What is important is that we really won’t know for certain for some time now- maybe 20+ years. And the heavy use of cell phones only started in the past 5 years.
What is certain is that using the cell phones one day won’t cause cancer.
What is really important here is that children present a special case. I shudder to see nearly every kid with a cell phone pressed against his/her ear. This is what is important:
a. Kid’s bones are growing. We know EMG fields can affect this.
b. Kid’s brains are growing/changing.
c. Kid’s brain is smaller. The dose of one cell phone to the kid is many times greater than to the full grown adult brain.
As one writer has pointed out, the current real danger of cell phones is phoning or texting while driving. Or crossing streets while phoning, texting or otherwise ignoring traffic.
What to do now? Certainly try to keep the phone as far from your ear as possible. Insist that the kids use this as minimally as possible.
The tragedy is that we may not know about brain cancer for the next 20 years. But why take a chance? Did you know that civilizations have been known to exist without cell phones? People read books, wrote letters, played games, etc. Maybe we could too?
Please add your thoughts.