Pitt's Cancer Institute to warn about cell phone health risks

[qanda]

Source: Pittsburgh Post Gazette

The director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and UPMC Cancer Centers plans to issue an advisory to about 3,000 faculty and staff tomorrow about the possible health risks associated with cellular phone use. The document suggests certain measures to limit exposure to the electromagnetic fields emitted by the devices, such as limiting the length of conversations or keeping the phones away from the head by using headsets or speaker phone options. It also recommends that children not use cell phones except in emergencies.

A child's developing organs "are the most likely to be sensitive to any possible effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields," according to the document.

snip (not a very long article)

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08204/898713-100.stm

[gateley]

1. I seem to recall that Europe issued warnings about this.

Here, in the US, wasn't there a "study" done with the result being no adverse effects could be proved? Who funded the study, I wonder. :sarcasm:

[Deja Q]

2. That's the pitts; I just bought a new Nokia.

x(

[JerseygirlCT]

8. Get a wired headset - that's supposed to help

You won't look all bluetoothy and cool, but you might save some brain cells.

[OKthatsIT]

10. Bluetooth is better. Wires still conduct it up to the brain

However...the wires do help more than nothing.

[One_Life_To_Give]

12. Putting a Bluetooth transceiver at point blank

Putting a Bluetooth transceiver at point blank to the head is better than a wired speaker/mic? I don't think so. 900MHz and 2.4GHz don't travel too well over copper pairs. And while the Bluetooth transceiver has less power than the phone it's alot closer than a phone with wired headset would be.

[truedelphi]

34. I really agree with you. And few people stop to think

In many areas of our nation, the cell towers are the real problem.

When I lived in Sausalito the EMF's were strong enough to cause our telephone answering machine to turn on and off. The tape player would actually re-wind.

Supposedly that is one indication that the EMF surrounding the residence is way too heavy for human consumption.

Also people don't realize that the way to think about the EMF pollution is in terms of a kid holding up a garden hose to sprinkle their friends. The water from the hose might not impact the child holding the hsoe at all - but at a certain distance, some of the kids get wet.

So it is not simply a matter of how far you happen to be from the cell antennae, or towers.

[jberryhill]

19. Ummmm.....

IF you don't want an RF device next to your head, then using a bluetooth unit instead of a cell phone is a dumb option.

Just HOW do you think the signals are transmitted between a bluetooth unit and a telephone?

[JerseygirlCT]

27. That's what I was saying

Get a "wired" headset, not a bluetooth enabled one. The clunky, nerdy, stick a piece of plastic in or on your ear, and attach the wires to your phone down there kind of thing.

It's not perfect, apparently, but a whole lot better than a bluetooth unit on your head.

[sendero]

28. Bluetooth..

... should be better than holding a phone to your head, as it takes less RF to transmist 20 feet than it does to transmist 8000 feet.

Of course, a wired headset is the best option of all for reducing RF exposure.

[B3Nut]

30. Actually, the long headset wire

is a LOUSY radiator of gigahertz-range RF. It is far too long to be an effective radiator of those high frequencies, the wavelengths are too short. Ever wonder why cellphone and wifi antennas are so short? That's why...it's all about proper antenna length for the wavelength one is attempting to send/receive.

[uppityperson]

3. Interesting way I found to check individual cell phones as they do vary

Friend was talking on 1 by my portable cd player/radio boombox thingie and there was static on the speaker. I tried mine and there was none. We called each other and took turns standing near the device to see which cell phone made more static while ringing and hers way outdid mine.

Not sure if it scientific, but interesting. I first noticed when myy old phone made static when it rang near my cd player, static on the speakers.

[merwin]

14. That could also be frequency.

There are several frequencies that cell phones operate on. Not sure if that is it though.

[uppityperson]

17. That could be, I wonder if anyone else would know. Anyone?

[AdHocSolver]

24. That "test" won't tell you anything about effects on people.

The danger from these phones comes from the microwave energy that is transmitted by the antenna.

It can penetrate your body, just as microwave energy penetrates and cooks your food in a microwave oven. The antenna acts as an RF energy "concentrator" in order to couple it to the "space" surrounding it. Having a part of your body next to the antenna means that your body, for example your head, is in the RF energy field.

I wouldn't be worried about occasional use of a cell phone for a few minutes a day. I would suspect that the effects are accumulative and at low power levels (found in strong signal areas, as the phone transmitter adjusts its power level opposite the signal strength to the base station), penetration into the body should be minimal.

For prolonged or frequent use of a cell phone, I would recommend using an ear piece to keep the cell phone at least a foot or two away from one's body. The flip top style of cell phone has an antenna, although you can't see it. It is inside the case.

I read an interesting article discussing cell phone dangers, and it mentioned that another danger from microwaves close to your head from using cell phones is that they may promote cataracts in the eye.

At any rate, cell phone usage can be problematic for people who use it a lot. For those people, I recommend an ear phone so that you can keep the thing away from your body.

A more immediate threat to safety is from bozos who insist on having long conversations on their cell phones while they drive. No study is needed to determine the dangers of that practice.

[uppityperson]

33. Ah well, thought it was interesting though. Thanks. eom

[truthisfreedom]

4. Now watch the cell phone companies demand that the advisory be retracted.

They have, after all, been completely vetted and found totally safe.

:sarcasm:

[SpiralHawk]

16. "This is part of your Mental Recession. Smirk." - Cell phone corporate stooges

eom

[RamboLiberal]

5. Larry King covered this in May on CNN with some neurosurgeons

What do brain surgeons know about cellphone safety that the rest of us don’t?

Last week, three prominent neurosurgeons told the CNN interviewer Larry King that they did not hold cellphones next to their ears. “I think the safe practice,” said Dr. Keith Black, a surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, “is to use an earpiece so you keep the microwave antenna away from your brain.”

Dr. Vini Khurana, an associate professor of neurosurgery at the Australian National University who is an outspoken critic of cellphones, said: “I use it on the speaker-phone mode. I do not hold it to my ear.” And CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon at Emory University Hospital, said that like Dr. Black he used an earpiece.

Along with Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s recent diagnosis of a glioma, a type of tumor that critics have long associated with cellphone use, the doctors’ remarks have helped reignite a long-simmering debate about cellphones and cancer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/health/03well.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[NewEnglandGirl]

6. I saw that program

It was very interesting. I wish a consensus would be reached regarding this.:think:

[mzmolly]

21. Wow.

Very interesting.

[CK_John]

7. Are there any studies relating the hand used and the side of the brain affected? n/t

[NewEnglandGirl]

13. This Dr. Black

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0805/27/lkl.01.html

who was on Larry King that night said that there were some studies that seemed to correlate that. But I've heard/read the opposite too. I don't think there's really a consensus yet.

[pokercat999]

9. For the last year I've been using my cell phone about

20 Hours per month. I have difficulty hearing the speaker so I guess I better get a head set.

[shanti]

11. bluetooth, baby

you'll love it - trust me! frees up your hands too.

[merwin]

15. But that emits radio of its own... directly into the ear.

[shanti]

18. isn't it pretty negligible?

i know two people that have recently died from brain cancer, by coincidence very social, (phone) talkative. it sure makes you wonder, huh?

another reason to keep my land line...

[arikara]

20. Be sure your landline is the old fashioned type with the cord...

The cordless are supposed to be even worse than cellphones, and the base stations are downright deadly.

[AdHocSolver]

22. Cordless phones operate at lower power levels and one is far enough away from the base to be safe.

The danger is less the farther you stay away from the antenna. One normally is several feet away from a cordless phone base station. It presents no danger.

The danger of any wireless phone is having the antenna being near your body while the unit is transmitting. This is because the microwave energy the phones transmit can penetrate your body the same way that microwaves cook your food in a microwave oven.

[arikara]

31. Well I do hope you are right because those things are everywhere...

...but its not really my understanding of them.

...snip...

Emissions from a cordless phone's charger can be as high as six volts per metre - twice as strong as those found with a 100 metres of mobile masts. Two metres away from the charger the radiation is still as high as 2.5 volts per metre - that's 50 times what scientists regard as a safe level.

At a metre away the danger is multiplied 120 times - and it only drops to a safe 0.05 volts per metre when you are 100 metres away from the phone. Because of the way cordless phones work, the charger constantly emits radiation at full strength even when the phone is not in use - and so does the handset when it is off the charger.

The most common cancers caused by such radiation are leukemias. But breast cancer, brain tumours, insomnia, headaches and erratic behaviour in kids have also been linked. Those with chargers close to their beds are subjected to radiation while they sleep.

http://www.emf-health.com/reports-cordlessphones.htm

[jberryhill]

32. Well, for the purpose of comparison....

How many loner hermits do you know that died of brain cancer.

Funny thing about non-sociable people - not many other people know them very well.

[not fooled]

23. What about battery-powered wireless headsets?

A little off-topic, but does anyone know whether there are any negative effects associated with the use of battery (AAA-type) headsets that transmit sound via wireless transmitters connected to a radio or computer (like, in the next room)?

Is the bad effect from the battery power or the fact that there is a wireless signal received?

[AdHocSolver]

25. If the headset is a receiver only, I wouldn't worry about it. The only danger would be from...

playing the thing too loudly and ruining your hearing.

That said, I thought of another possible problem with headsets. If the magnets they use contain so-called rare earth materials, I would be concerned about it.

A few years back, I read an article about the use of rare earth minerals in expensive, very fast camera lenses. The question raised in the article was whether the small amount of radioactivity emitted by these rare earth minerals was dangerous to the photographer. The article didn't decide one way or another, except to notify purchasers of these lenses that the problem was there, and to consider it when looking to purchase such a lens.

I don't know very much about modern headphones. I mention it because I have seen advertising for headsets mention the use of exotic materials to make super magnets.

[satya]

26. Here's a link to check your phone's SAR rating (qty of RF energy absorbed by your body)

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6602_7-5020355-1.html

[Wilms]

29. .

[NashVegas]

35. Brain Tumors Are #2 Cause of Death for 20-39 Year Olds

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2008/07/02/2008-07-02_brain_tumors_on_the_rise_but_more_treatm.html