| There are over 4 billion cell phone users throughout the | | | | precautionary measures to protect ourselves from |
| world today - that's about 4 people out of every 6 | | | | suspected cell phone dangers: |
| living on this planet and owning a cell phone, subscribed | | | | Keep your cell phone away from your body. The |
| to a cellular phone plan, or living with someone who | | | | greatest exposure to cellular phone radiation is when it |
| owns a mobile phone. The ubiquity of wireless phones | | | | is 6 inches or less from any body part. |
| brings to the fore certain issues related to this device, | | | | Text more, talk less. Take only the most important |
| like cell phone dangers to human health. | | | | calls or make the least amount of calls on your phone |
| All mobile phones, when turned on, emit | | | | and transmit messages through SMS. |
| electromagnetic radiation in the microwave radio | | | | Use headset or speakerphone function. wireless phone |
| frequency range. It is this cell phone radiation, as it is | | | | radiation is emitted directly from a unit's built-in antenna. |
| absorbed by human tissue (most commonly in the | | | | Using a headset ensures that the actual cell phone is |
| head, as you place the phone next to your ear when | | | | located away from your head, which can easily |
| you talk) that has come under intense scrutiny this | | | | absorb EMF radiation. |
| past decade. Several epidemiological and experimental | | | | Use your land line. It's definitely safer to talk on the land |
| studies have associated prolonged cell phone use to | | | | line than on a mobile phone, because this lessens your |
| sleeping disorder, cognitive problems, headaches, | | | | exposure to radiation. |
| stress, brain tumors, and cancer. | | | | Turn off your cell phone while charging. Not only will |
| Experiment Without Controls | | | | you charge your phone faster, it will also cut down on |
| On the other hand, studies with opposing results and | | | | radiation emission from your cell to which everyone in |
| observations have also been published. CTIA, the | | | | your house or office is exposed to. |
| wireless industry's lobbying association pointed out to | | | | Purchase or use phones that have been certified or |
| studies or statements from the World Health | | | | tested to emit the least amount of radiation. The |
| Organization (WHO), the American Cancer Society, | | | | Environmental Working Group has prepared an |
| and the FDA downplaying potential cell phone dangers, | | | | exhaustive list covering over 1,000 phones currently in |
| "all have concurred that wireless devices are not a | | | | the market, and they have come up with a list of the |
| public health risk." | | | | 10 best phones (with least radiation output) to use. |
| But, as Professor Devra Davis, at the University of | | | | Keep cellular phones away from children. Children's |
| Pittsburgh Cancer Institute explains, "the latency | | | | skulls are thinner and their brains are less dense than |
| between exposure and brain cancer could be 20 or | | | | adult brains, radio frequency signals can penetrate |
| 30 years" and by using cellular devices without any | | | | deeper into a child's brain than in an adult's. |
| clear understanding of cell phone dangers, "we are | | | | “There’s a greater concern for children |
| basically treating ourselves like lab rats in an | | | | because the life-time exposure will be much higher,” |
| experiment without any controls" | | | | says Jane Houlihan of the Environmental Working |
| The verdict is still out, obviously, but are you willing to | | | | Group. In the United States, as many as seven in ten |
| take the risk? | | | | children between the ages of 12 and 17 own a mobile |
| Protect Yourself | | | | phone, and half use them daily, according to the New |
| Today, at the Consumer Electronics Show 2010 in Las | | | | York Times. |
| Vegas, a company called Pong Research has | | | | At the moment, there is no conclusive, peer-reviewed |
| announced the availability of a product called Pong™ | | | | evidence that points to cell phone dangers from |
| BlackBerry Curve™ Case which claims to reduce | | | | radiation exposure. The science is evolving on this |
| users' exposure to mobile phone radiation by 60%. Until | | | | subject, but if we must err, it should be on the side of |
| this product is introduced by other manufacturers to | | | | caution. When it comes to our health and those of our |
| cover other brands and will be marketed widely, | | | | children, nothing should be left to chance, let's always |
| however, we all just have to take certain | | | | protect ourselves. |