Cell Phone EMF

Do Cell Phones Pose a Threat to Our Health

Cell phones are supposedly causing health problems. Many people are saying that their mobile phone caused their brain tumor.

"From day one, I was worried about contracting brain cancer because of earlier reports," said Gibb Brower, a landscaper from San Diego, to Network World. "Anything that can remotely give you a chance of cancer, I stay away from. But I was assured by the people I got the phone from that it was safe."  Brower has filed a lawsuit against Motorola and Sony, stating his cell phones have caused two tumors on the right side of his brain.
About half of all Americans use cell phones. Forty-one percent of Americans are between the ages of 18 to 29 with 67 percent of them using cell phones every day.

In order to understand wireless phones and their risk of causing cancer, a person has to understand how they are created.

Wireless telephones are hand-held phones with built-in antennas, like a two-way radio. They pick up the caller's voice and translate the sound to radio frequency energy. The radio waves travel through the air until they reach a receiver at a nearby base station. The base station then sends the call through the telephone network until it reaches the person being called.

When a person receives a call, the message travels through the telephone network until it reaches a base station close to the appropriate wireless phone. Then the base station sends out radio waves that are detected by a receiver in the cellular phone, where the signals are changed back into the sound of a voice.
 

Cell Phone EMF
"Cell phones emit radio frequency radiation, and the evidence establishes to satisfaction that it puts you at risk of harm when you use the phone," said Michael Allweiss, a New Orleans attorney, to Network World.

The number of health cases involving cell phones has increased. Chris Newman, a neurologist, blames his brain tumor on his usage of cell phones. Newman has filed a lawsuit against several industry giants, including Motorola and Cell One.

Cell phones studies have linked radio frequency radiation to DNA and chromosome damage that infringe the blood-brain barrier and increase tumor risks, memory loss, and learning difficulties. Some cancer studies have shown correlation that radiation is absorbed by the user's head, sinking in about one to two inches within the skull, causing some heating of the brain tissue.

"My phone becomes hot on my face and makes my muscles tense up and the muscles start to squeeze on my skull which ends in a tension headache," said Jeremiah Watson, the Student Body President at SLCC. Watson has been using cell phones for over eight years.
"There's nothing in the science to suggest there are any adverse health effects with cell phones," said Jo-Anne Basile, vice president for external and industry relations for the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunication & Internet), to Network World.

Basile said there's no harm in using cell phones. But the neurologists and other studies that have found opposing evidence that cell phone frequency radiation causes biological effects.

There have been many health complaints on using cell phones, but no one has currently won a case involving cell phones causing brain tumors.

By Demontray Lockhart  Published: Friday, October 21, 2005