Electromagnetic radiation emitting devices such as mobile phones, Bluetooth, PDA’s, Computers, Tablets, Laptops and so on, have been linked to various stress-induced problems and serious illnesses.
Beginning today, potential cell phone buyers in Berkeley,
California will be greeted by a salesperson and a warning concerning
potential radiation exposure. Under the Right to Know ordinance
passed unanimously by the Berkeley City Council back in May, cell phone
retailers are required to inform consumers that by carrying a cell
phone on your person (in your shirt pocket, pants, or bra), “You may
exceed the federal guidelines for exposure.” The warning further states,
“The potential risk is greater for children.”
Already, there are federal regulations
in place meant to warn cell phone users of the limits of safe radiation
that can be expected from normal cell phones and cell phone usage, but
under this new set of guidelines, Berkeley lawmakers are heightening the
level of concern surrounding mobile devices. The science around cell phone radiation has long been a contentious subject
— whereas some dismiss claims of cell phone dangers as unwarranted
hysterics, others insist that the lack of testing when it comes to cell
phones in close proximity with our bodies has stunted the amount of
information available. According to Environmental Health Trust’s Senior Medical Advisor,
Dr. Robert Morris, “If industry does not want to advise people about
the fact that phones are not tested next to the body, then they should
get the FCC to change its requirements for radiation testing. They
cannot do this because, if phones were tested next to the body, they
would be found to emit too much radiation to pass current standards.” Related: Watch out, Apple: Huawei has become the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor
Certainly, there have been a number of studies that seem to link
heavy cell phone usage with certain medical side effects. For example,
studies in both Australia and India
have found that men who use their cell phones most frequently (and keep
them in their pants pocket) had lower sperm counts than those who used
cell phones less often. Other studies have also suggested a link between
radiation exposure from cell phone usage and certain types of brain
cancer.
Still, the skeptics remain thoroughly unimpressed, and even
the American Cancer Society has noted that cancer cases observed in
people who carry cellphones may be coincidental or anecdotal. And as Dr. Jerrold T. Bushberg, a medical physicist and a professor of
radiology and radiation oncology at the University of California, Davis,
told the New York Times, “We’ve been looking for signs of adverse
effects at low levels for over 50 years without success. We can’t say
it’s impossible, but if there is a risk it would be very, very low, or
we would have seen an increase in brain cancers.”
Proponents of the new Berkeley ordinance, however, say that they’re
simply exercising extra caution — after all, the warnings aren’t
impinging upon anyone’s right to buy a cellphone. As Dr. Morris stated, “Over the past twenty years,
cell phone use has exploded to the point where it is almost universal,
but we have limited understanding of the potential risk caused by these
devices. This may well be the largest uncontrolled public health
experiment in human history.”Morris noted that the health risks were
uncertain, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, part
of the World Health Organization) determined that the radiation emitted
by cell phones was a possible cause of cancer.
Morris concluded that until more definitive research was
conducted, “… it seems prudent to reduce exposures, especially when
doing so can involve something as simple as using headphones. Improving
consumers’ access to warnings about potential risks, warnings that are
already in the phones, is a no-brainer.”
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