The danger of mobile phones for health

[Maciamo]

Did you know that if you place an egg between two mobile phones in conversation for one hour, the egg will be cooked ! Better not ask what it does to our brain.

In fact, let's ask. What are the danger of mobile telephony ? Brain tumour, cancer, nerve and DNA damage, headaches, confusion, sleep problems... Have a look at this website : Health risks of mobile phones

[Alma]

this is really serious topic. but people, especially young adolescents tend to use mobile phones more and more, and by more hours by every day.. and that of course can be bad. people tend to exaggerate in many many things, and eventually it causes various health problems.

i don't like mobile phones so much.. and use it only when necessary (do not talk to much, play games or something like that...) but i do carry it around it when i'm out all the time. also use to sleep near it, cause alarm wakes me up, but now i'm trying to put it as far as possible (so i have to get up to turn alarm off )

but, now i wonder, am i just deceiving myself that my phone will not hurt me?

[RockLee]

I'm afraid you're misinformed about the eggs-hoax. There is absolutely no proof of 2 cellphones boiling or even heating an egg.

http://www.dmt123.com/general-health...-dmt123-1.html

[Mycernius]

It is a bit like the Greenhouse effect and the environmentalist jumping up and down saying that we are destroying the planet. Say it loud enough and you won't or don't want to hear the voice of reason or alternative research pointing out that we maybe panicing a bit too much.
A recent article in The Daily Mail about mobile 'phones.
The egg myth is like the myth of don't use your 'phone whilst useing a petrol pump. Started on the web and is entirely false. Urban myth land.

[Maciamo]

A recent article in The Daily Mail about mobile 'phones.

The article says that the study was only carried over 10 years, but tumours may take over 20 years to develop from exposure to electromagnetic waves. We will see in 10 years...

[breez]

According to this news article (Times Online) there were users with up to 21 years of mobile phone use. Very few people had mobile phones in the 80's though. Average period was 8.5 years.

While it could take 20 years for a tumor to develop, the fact that there was no raise in cancer occurences strongly suggests that mobile phone use is not linked to developing cancer.

[Mycernius]

The article says that the study was only carried over 10 years, but tumours may take over 20 years to develop from exposure to electromagnetic waves. We will see in 10 years...

You don't normally strike me as a person to actually regard this research subjectively, but you are coming across as believing the panic mongers. You can objective on other subjects, why not this one?

[Maciamo]

You don't normally strike me as a person to actually regard this research subjectively, but you are coming across as believing the panic mongers. You can objective on other subjects, why not this one?

Because it scares me more than almost anything else. Brain tumour (or Alzheimer or Creutzfeld-Jacob) is the disease I least want to have or die from. I don't mind physical pain, but losing your memory and intellectual faculty is terrible.

[Ma Cherie]

Because it scares me more than almost anything else. Brain tumour (or Alzheimer or Creutzfeld-Jacob) is the disease I least want to have or die from. I don't mind physical pain, but losing your memory and intellectual faculty is terrible.

Oh so you're just kind of paranoid. Well, I guess that's understandable. But I've always doubted that mobile phones could cause serious health problems. I mean, there was a point when people believed microwaves caused cancer.

You don't mind physical pain?

[Mycernius]

I do know of a trick using a mobile 'phone. Stretch out one of your arms horizontally from your body, a bit like half a star jump. get someone to press against it and try to resist it. You should be able to put up quite a resistance to it. Now put a mobile to your ear, switched on, with your other hand and try this again. You'll find that you will not have the same amount of resistance against the person pushing your arm. Freaky. Good trick to try and some people really do freak out on this.

[gaijinalways]

Excessive use of devices that admit radio waves of course can be harmful (especially when said device is right next to your head). In the US and in England, there are a few cases of brain cancer that the victims believed was caused by excessive cell-phone usage.

I wouldn't worry too much about it Maciamo, just limit your usage time or stop using a cell-phone. I think if you limit your exposure, you're unlikly to be at high risk.

As to the eggs, urban myth. Try it yourself and see, you'll be waiting a long time!

[Mycernius]

Excessive use of devices that admit radio waves of course can be harmful (especially when said device is right next to your head). In the US and in England, there are a few cases of brain cancer that the victims believed was caused by excessive cell-phone usage.
I wouldn't worry too much about it Maciamo, just limit your usage time or stop using a cell-phone. I think if you limit your exposure, you're unlikly to be at high risk.
As to the eggs, urban myth. Try it yourself and see, you'll be waiting a long time!

The word here is Believed, not proven. It is more likely to be a case of co-incidence. Almost all studies done towards this show either no conclusive proof or ther is no effect, but some people will just keep going on because it gives them an excuse when tumours happen. They cannot except that there are many other causes.

[Duo]

A new study in Denmark recently has show that mobile phones are not a thread to health.

You can read more here :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4432755.stm

[Maciamo]

A French lawyer has just released a much publicised book (Le dossier noir du portable) about the dangers of mobile phones for health.
According to him, many scientific studies have shown a clear connection between health problems (e.g. cancers in children) and mobile phone waves.

He also explains that this is why insurance company (in France at least) do not want to insure health problems linked to mobile phones anymore.
The author compares the danger to that of asbestos, which effects only appear decades after the exposure.


This morning, the very honourable Figaro Newspaper published an article about a report of the University of Bern (Switzerland) explaining that out of the 222 studies on the medical consequences of mobile phones carried between 1995 and 2005, those that were financed by in full or in part by the industry (telecom companies) didn't find any health risk from the usage of mobile phones.

Studies financed by the government (19%) did find a correlation, while those that did not reveal the source of their financing (37%) proved to have the most alarming results. The University of Bern thus accuse the industry of trying to conceal the negative effects through biased studies.

The World Health Organisation requested more attentive studies to be made on the effects of radiofrequencies on the immunitary, neurological and neuroendocrinian systems.

Still today, the Belgian national francophone TV (RTBF) is to broadcast a special debate on the health risks linked to mobile phones, and whether mobile phones should be prohibited for children.

[Maciamo]

A new study in Denmark recently has show that mobile phones are not a thread to health.
You can read more here :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4432755.stm

Yet, the article mentions that another Swedish study did find a link between mobile phones and brain tumours.

This Danish studies proceeded the wrong way round. They questioned people with brain tumour on their mobile phone usage. Nobody said that there weren't other causes of brain tumours than radiomagnetic waves. What if none of the people in this relatively small sample (427 people) developed a brain tumour due to mobile phones ? This study is as nonsensical as if they had asked 500 people who developed a flu recently if they had been in contact with birds to prove whather avian flu can be transmitted to humans !

[Maciamo]

The RTBF is broadcasting another TV programme about the dangers of electromagnetic waves and microwaves on health.

They confirm that most of the studies on the effect on mobile phones on health were funded by the industry, and that all these studies negated the risks, while most of the independent studies found some health risks.

They also confirmed that about all insurance companies refused now to insurance health risks linked to electromagnetic waves, after having done studies on their own.

Many studies couldn't prove that mobile phones were harmful to health, but couldn't prove that they weren't harmful either.

The legislation in Belgium, like in most countries, prefers to allow something as long as it hasn't been proved to be harmful, rather than to forbid it as long as it hasn't been proved not to be harmful.

There were many interviews of Belgian people suffering from various health problems, all similar (headaches, palpitations, nausea...) soon after a mobile phone antenna was installed near their house.

A Swedish research showed that the risk to develop a brain tumour from using a mobile phone was 4x higher in the countryside than in an urban area, because the electromagnetic waves to connect to the nearest antenna had to be stronger in the country, due to the longer distance.

The same study found a strong correlation between mobile phone use and "acoustic neurinoma", a benign tumour developing around the auditive nerves, leading to deafness. They also found a link with malignant brain tumour, which inevitably lead to death within 6 months to 1 year.

The RTBF also mentioned that a company, EMX, developed a biochip aimed at reducing electromagnetic waves in mobile phones. However phone manufacturers always refused to use it, as it would amount to admitting that mobile phones cause a health risk, and thus contradict what they have always said.

[Maciamo]

Belgian paediatricians have launched a petition to ban usage of mobile phones under 16 years old, as it is now almost 100% sure that they cause serious health problems for children.

VRT News : Paediatricians warn against mobile phones

A group of Flemish paediatricians has started a campaign to stop children under 16 years of age from using mobile phones.
...
They have started a petition to demand a ban on the use of mobile phones by children under 16.

Various paediatric departments in hospitals have posters on display to warn parents against the dangers of mobile phones.

Michèle Verboven, one of the paediatricians who took the initiative, says "it's almost 100% sure that mobile phones pose a serious health threat to children."
...
Scientific research increasingly shows a link between the use of mobile phones and a disorder in brain activity among children.

According to the latest studies carried out in Spain, a brain function disorder can cause an immunity lapse. The children's ability to learn could also be affected, as well as the mental health of the child. The latter could result in headaches, sleeping problems, concentration lapses and deviant behaviour including depression and aggression.

Swedish research proved that radiation emitted by mobile phones reaches the interior of children's brains. This could result in the development of brain tumours in the long run.

[misa.j]

There were many interviews of Belgian people suffering from various health problems, all similar (headaches, palpitations, nausea...) soon after a mobile phone antenna was installed near their house.

That, I would be concerned about than actual cell phone devices as those antennas can beam out high voltage of energy, and it definitely is not good to live close by.

It seems like a good idea to prevent young children from using the cell phones.

[Maciamo]

A new Belgian study observed that mice exposed to mobile phone waves had a much higher mortality rate than the control group. The researchers from Leuven University claimed that mobile phone waves could cause premature ageing in humans too. It may still take a few years before tests on humans are conclusive, due to longer lifespan of humans.

[Pachipro]

I read that if one uses a mobile phone without head sets you might as well be holding a running small microwave oven, with the door open, up to the side of your head. Therefore, I have never in the last 8 years ever used one without a head set. Has anyone ever noticed how hot the phone is after using it? Enough said.

[Chris]

One thing is for certain: They're probably the World's largest-scale open experiment ever. Medical side effects of this sort take a long time to manifest, and no-one knew for sure what the facts were when they became a mass market commodity. My decades in marketing and recent career in healthcare make me sceptical about the safety issues. Time will surely tell, though.

[Anatolian]

Hey you are in Finland, go to Nokia HQ and tell them to solve this problem

[childfont]

Mobile Phones are definitely dangerous as very vast usage of them can cause cancer with its rays distribution the human cells.

[rugger]

Cell phones are really deteriorating our health plus other living around us. For an instance, these days bee are dying due to the massive usage of cellphones along with this, many researchers claimed that if the mobile phone are not stopped for next 100 of years all threes around us will be also no more with us.So, I think alternative of cell phones are to be discovered for the preservation of eco-system plus human race.
That's all I have to say about this I might have been given some wrong information about the trees and cellphones, if it is please make me clear.

[LeBrok]

I would worry more about stuff you guys smoke in Barbados. It seams to kill brain cells. :)