Are Cell Phones Safe To Use?
Mobile phones are a recent invention; the first hand held device for making a phone call was used on 3 April 1973 by Martin Cooper of Motorola. The first commercial cellular network (1G) was launched in Japan by a company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) in 1979 and within five years the whole nation was brought under its services; other countries followed suit in the 1980s. Within two decades, the cell phones had penetrated the markets of the developing world resulting in a huge surge in the number of mobile phone users in the world. Today, there are close to 4.6 billion mobile phones in the world with China taking the lead as the home to 785 million mobile subscribers.
With the increase in the number of cell phone subscribers, the number of research articles on cell phones has also increased. A number of those research papers point toward the potential dangers of using cell phones and the number of research papers claiming otherwise is almost same.
The question arises, if cell phones can really jeopardize our health.
Cell Phones are Dangerous
According to an article, Meta analysis of long term mobile phone use and the association with brain tumors, published in the International Journal of Oncology in March 2008, a meta-study was conducted to find a relation between the cell phone usage and the development of glioma, a kind of brain cancer. The study found a direct link between increased risks of developing brain cancer in people using cell phones.
M J Schoemaker and A J Swerdlow published the results of a study done by them in the August 2005 issue of the British Journal of Cancer stating that the risk of ‘acoustic neuroma’, a tumor which forms on the nerve near the ear, significantly increases on the side of the head where cell phone is held. J. Wiart said in his article, Analysis of RF exposure in the head tissues of children and adults, that young children especially under the age of eight, absorb twice as much radiation as an adult due to thinner skulls.
Using a cell phone while driving is banned in several countries because driving distractions, including the talking over a mobile while driving, account for a quarter of all traffic collisions according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Also, researchers at the University of Utah found that driving while using telephone is as dangerous as driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08%.
Martin Schram and George Carlo wrote in a book published in 2001 namely; Cell Phones, Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age, An Insider’s Alarming Discoveries about Cancer and Genetic Damage: it’s been observed that radio frequency emissions from cell phones damage genetic material in blood cells which is a precursor to cancer.
According to the articles of Geoffry N. De Luliss and Ashok Agarwal, there is a correlation between keeping cell phones in front pockets and poor fertility and a heightened risk of miscarriage. Another study by the Cleveland Clinic Centre for Reproductive Medicine reported that semen quality declined with an increased usage of mobile phones.
Public Library of Science, a Danish cohort study, brought out an article of Joachim Schuz and Gunhild Waldemar on 5 February, 2009 reported long term usage of cell phones make it more likely for the user to be hospitalized because of migraines and vertigo.
A study by Gunhild Waldemar and Joachim Schuz proves that long term usage of cell phones heightens the risk of being hospitalized because of vertigo and migraines by as much as 20%. According to the US Food and Drug Administration, patients with pace makers should not use cell phones because the phones create electromagnetic interference which can disrupt the functioning of pacemakers.
Ben Charny’s article of CNET: ‘Cell Phones, Too Hot to Handle?’ says lithium ion batteries, commonly used in cell phones, are susceptible to explosion on overcharging and overheating. Faulty batteries can also lead to explosion and cause fires and injuries.
It’s a myth that cell phones are dangerous
A study by Joachim Schuz namely, Cellular Telephone Use and Cancer Risk: Update of a Nationwide Danish Court, proves that the use of a cell phone can marginally dampen down the risk of developing glioma and meningioma, or brain tumors.
Erick Swanson declares in his study, appeared in Pittsburgh Post Gazette on 3 August 2008 that radiation from the cell phones is non-ionizing i.e. similar to the radiation emitted by radios and television. The radiation emitted by the cell phones is not powerful enough to penetrate cells and thus cause cancer. Moreover, the radiation levels for mobile phones are tested and kept in safe limits before they hit the market.
The National Cancer Institute released a study named Cellular Telephone Use and Cancer Risk and concluded that if cell phones were really dangerous there’d have been a significant increase in number of people reporting nervous system and brain cancer. But no such trend has been observed between 1987 and 2005 despite the fact that the number of cell phones users in the world has increased a lot.
Of the all traffic distraction responsible for accidents, crashes involving distractions because of telephones account for only 1% of the crashes. This is what a report by the International Association for the Wireless Telecommunication Industry says in its report ‘CTIA Consumer Info: Driving Tips’.
A study by R J Croft published in the Australian Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine, in December 2008 claims the studies showing a correlation between cancer and increased mobile phone usage are biased. In most of the studies, the participants didn’t remember how long or how often they had used their cell phones.
Christopher Baker relates an article from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) which says cell phones are an easy and convenient method of contacting others in case of emergencies.
The American Heart Association dismisses the myth that it is unsafe for people with pacemakers to use cell phones. According to the Association, the cell phones don’t particularly affect the pacemaker during normal use.
Conclusion
Despite widespread beliefs in the general public, no hard evidence has yet appeared, which can prove that cell phones are dangerous to use. On the other side, no major study has been done to probe the effects of long term usage of mobile phones on human health. As it is said, prevention is better than cure; not sticking to your mobile phone during the whole day can not only save you money but also protect you from the yet-undiscovered ill effects of cell phone usage.
