Are Cell Phones More Dangerous Than Smoking?

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Are Cell Phones More Dangerous Than Smoking?

Posted by: Dr. Mercola
April 17 2008 | 60,857 views

Award-winning cancer expert Dr. Vini Khurana has concluded that mobile phones may kill far more people than smoking or asbestos. The latest study, which is being called the “most devastating indictment yet” for the safety of mobile phones, draws on growing evidence that using handsets for 10 years or more can double your risk of brain cancer.

Professor Khurana reviewed more than 100 studies on the effects of mobile phones, and concluded that "there is a significant and increasing body of evidence for a link between mobile phone usage and certain brain tumors."

"We are currently experiencing a reactively unchecked and dangerous situation," he added.

Earlier this year, the French government warned against the use of mobile phones, particularly for children. Germany also advises people to minimize handset use.

Khurana urges people to avoid using mobile phones whenever possible, and believes that governments and the mobile phone industry must take immediate steps to reduce exposure to this radiation.

If nothing is done, Khurana believes the rate of malignant brain tumors and the associated death rate will rise around the world within a decade, and by then it may be too late to intervene medically.

Sources:

Mobile Phones and Brain Tumors – A Public Health Concern (PDF)

AlterNet March 30, 2008

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

You may think this headline sounds like a bit of a stretch, or perhaps even a major stretch. Well, I urge you to think again, as this headline, and the research behind it, is spot on.

Professor Khurana based the notion that cell phones are more dangerous than smoking on the following logic: 3 billion people use cell phones worldwide, which is three times more than the amount of people who smoke.

Of course, smoking doesn’t immediately show any deadly signs either. But wait a decade or so, and the evidence is there right before your eyes. According to Khurana, the "incubation time" or "latency" (the time from the start of regular mobile phone usage to the diagnosis of a malignant solid brain tumor) is around 10-20 years. In the years 2008-2012, he says, “we will have reached the appropriate length of follow-up time to begin to definitively observe the impact of this global technology on brain tumor incidence rates.”

There is VERY solid evidence that the number of brain tumors will increase to 500,000 per YEAR in 2010 -- and this will double to 1 million every year by 2015 if the causes are not addressed.

Folks, this is the real deal and represents an impending health care crisis.

Cell Phones Appear to be a MAJOR Health Risk

I am absolutely convinced that the explosion of cell phone usage around the world is a major contributor to a host of diseases ranging from autism to cancer to insomnia.

I am in the final editing phases of my next book, which is dedicated to this very topic and will be released in the spring or summer of 2009, or possibly sooner.

You are fortunate, though, as you are receiving this information today, while there is still time to circumvent some of the damage. Please do not wait another 10 years for the “definitive” link to be found and publicized in the mainstream circles before you take action to protect yourself, and your children, from the electromagnetic radiation and information-carrying radio waves emitted by cell phones and many other wireless devices.

If you’re looking for some type of indication that cell phones are causing you harm, consider that all of the following ailments have been scientifically linked to information-carrying radio waves:

Fatigue
Headaches
Sleep disruptions
Altered memory function, poor concentration and spatial awareness
Alzheimer’s, senility and dementia
Parkinson’s
Autism
Cancer

Meanwhile, here is a sample of what Professor Khurana found after reviewing over 100 studies:

Electromagnetic radiation such as that emitted by mobile and cordless phones can heat the side of your head or pulse it non-thermally, and potentially thermoelectrically interact with the organic electrical currents of your brain.

Bluetooth devices and unshielded headsets can convert your head into an effective, potentially self-harming antenna.

Exposure is long-term and its effects on your body, particularly its electrical organ, your brain, are compounded by numerous other simultaneous long-term exposures including continuous waves from radio and TV transmitter towers, cordless phone base stations, power lines, and wireless/WiFi computing devices.

Do You STILL Believe That Cell Phones are Safe?

Well, if you’re finding it hard to believe that a widely used technology such as cell phones and wireless technologies could be causing you harm, it may help to compare it to other “technologies” that were once widely accepted:

The shoe-fitting fluoroscope, an X-ray machine used to look at the bones of your foot in order to judge your shoe size.
Radioactive drinking water, toothpaste, hair tonic and candy.
“Soothing syrup” for children that contained morphine, chloroform, codeine, heroin, opium and cannabis.
Mercury, the highly toxic metal, used to treat everything from cuts to constipation.
Heroin, which was originally developed and sold as a cough suppressant.

Even cigarette smoking was once described as healthy!

Cell Phones are Just One Part of the Problem

Information-carrying radio waves are all around us -- especially from cell phones, but also from WiFi, WiMax, BlueTooth, and other wireless devices. And you are likely receiving exposure to them 24/7.

It’s important to understand that the danger from most land-based portable phones, cell phones and WiFi routers is NOT from the microwave carrier wave, for which typical SAR ratings are given on phones.

This SAR rating indicates the thermal effect emitted by your phone, which is totally insignificant, unless you have massive exposures like you might expect in a microwave oven. This is why the discussion about lowering the allowable SAR is pointless, as it will NOT make cell phones safer.

Instead, nearly all your biological damage comes from the modulated signals that are carried ON the carrier microwave.

These modulated information-carrying radio waves resonate (vibrate) in the same frequencies as many of your cellular receptors; frequencies of a few to a few hundred cycles per second. These are biological frequencies and, unlike ionizing radiation (X-rays), which you can tolerate in small doses, there is NO dose of these radio waves that are safe. They cause damage at ANY dose, no matter how low.

This concept is called zero threshold, and that is precisely what you have with cell phones, most portable phones, and WiFi routers.

These information-carrying radio waves can stimulate or confuse your cellular receptors, causing a whole cascade of pathological consequences that can culminate in fatigue, sleeplessness, anxiety, neurological decline, and ultimately cancers.

The reason why children should NOT use cell phones is because they have developing nervous systems and thinner skulls than adults, making them especially vulnerable to this type of damage.

Can Cell Phones be Used Safely?

In the best-case scenario, you would turn off your cell phone, put it in the glove compartment of your car or in a briefcase, and only use it in emergencies. Obviously, many of you have come to rely on your cell phone for much more than this, but remember it wasn’t long ago that we all got along fine without them -- and it’s not too late to go back to that point.

Remember, kids should NOT be using cell phones. As a parent, it’s up to you to protect them from this avoidable risk.

Assuming you do choose to use a cell phone for more than just emergences, here are the tips to increase your safety level (for cell phones and other radio-wave exposures):

Limit the amount of time you spend on a cell phone or cordless phone.

Use a wired headset to limit your exposure to the cell phone -- ideally, an air tube headset that conducts sound but prevents any radiation from traveling up the wire to your brain. Also, make sure the wire is SHIELDED, which prevents it from acting as an antenna that could attract more information-carrying radio waves directly to your brain. Wireless BlueTooth headsets should be avoided.

Limit your exposure to WiFi routers. Find out where they are located in your work environment and stay away from them.

If you have any land-based (non-cellular) portable phones, do NOT use anything other than the 900 MHz phones, as the Gigahertz phones stay on continuously, blasting you with information-carrying radio waves 24/7.

Use the speakerphone instead of putting the phone to your ear; this is probably one of the single most important steps you can take other than not using your cell phone.

Limit calls inside buildings.

Use your cell phone only where the reception is good. When the reception is poor, your phone has to work harder, and therefore emits a much stronger radiation signal.