Dr. Mercola September 29 2001 1,836 views
As consumer concerns mount that prolonged cell phone use could lead to problems ranging from headaches to tumors, a recent study showing an alarming rate of brain cancer in some cell phone users is helping swing scientific opinion in Britain.
Dr. Alan Preece, head of biophysics at Bristol Oncology Center, is among a group of scientists becoming increasingly convinced that radiation from cell phones triggers chemical processes in the body that may be harmful.
Six separate studies now indicate that response times speed up when people are exposed to radio frequency (RF) signals from mobile phones. "Perhaps we now have to accept there is an effect on the brain," Preece told a London conference on the health risks of mobile phones.
"The response time has improved because of stress proteins, which are switched on by a gene. This needs further research. The chronic exposure to radio frequency signals might well have a detrimental (health) effect," states Preece.
Stress proteins are produced when body temperature rises, but Preece and other scientists said they can also be released purely as a result of RF signals, when body temperature is normal.
Other research from Sweden and Switzerland has indicated that radiation from mobile phone calls disturbs sleep.
In a study not yet published in scientific literature, Swedish professors Lennart Hardell and Kjell Hansson Mild found that people who had used analog mobile phones for up to 10 years had a 26% higher risk of brain cancer than a "control" sample of patients.
The study has unsettled many scientists -- even though it is based largely on a previous generation of mobile phones, many of which were installed in cars with aerials on the roof, and which emitted signals continuously, unlike the latest, digital phones.
"One can no longer go around saying there is no link (between cell phone use and health effects)," Preece said.
"Without question, there is a biological threat," agreed James Lin, professor of Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering at the University of Illinois. "The question is how hazardous cell phone use is."
He noted that it takes nearly a decade for most brain cancers to develop -- longer than the period of use covered by most studies.
Reuters September 21, 2001
Cell phones are NOT your friend. One should use them as little as possible. I generally restrict my use to less than two to three minutes per YEAR. I believe anything greater exposes one to a significant risk.
I believe there is hard science to support this and it has been published in one of the top peer reviewed medical journals in the world, The Lancet, last year.
Another clue that cell phones are causing problems is the article I posted in June which showed that the cell phone manufacturers had actually patented shields to reduce the radiation.
There are devices you can use to minimize your risk from the RF's, such as headsets and certain shields. But the best solution by far is minimizing your exposure to a low as possible.
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