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Mobile Phones
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Is your mobile killing you? Why using your phone could make you ill |
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The Sun, 3 May 2012
IT’S good to talk – or is it?
Scientists have called for urgent research into links between mobile phones and cancer after it was revealed there has been a 50 per cent increase in brain tumours since 1999.
At the Children With Cancer conference in London, Professor Denis Henshaw, of Bristol University, said: “Vast numbers of people are using mobiles and they could be a health timebomb, not just for brain tumours but also infertility.
"We should be openly discussing the evidence but it is not happening.”
The World Health Organisation advise pragmatic ways to reduce exposure to radiation such as using hands-free kits and texting instead of making calls.
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The biggest experiment of our species': With five billion mobile users in the world, conference calls for research into potential brain cancer risks |
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Daily Mail, 24 April 2012
A scientific conference starting in London today will urge governments across the world to support independent research into the possibility that using mobile phones encourages the growth of head cancers.
The Children with Cancer conference will highlight figures just published by the Office of National Statistics, which show a 50 per cent increase in frontal and temporal lobe tumours between 1999 and 2009.
The ONS figures show that the incident rate has risen from two to three per 100,000 people since 1999, while figures from Bordeaux Segalen University show a one to two per cent annual increase in brain cancers in children.
Scientists and academics have long argued over the suggestion that radiation from mobile phones causes cancers. Those who believe there is a link say that - with five billion mobile phones being used worldwide - urgent research must be carried out to establish the risk.
But not everyone agrees. While governments, phone companies, and health agencies give precautionary advice about minimising mobile phone use, the Health Protection Agency is likely to conclude in a report due on Thursday that the only established risk when using a mobile is crashing a car due to being distracted by a call or text.
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A close call: Why the jury is still out on mobile phones |
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The Independent, 24 April 2012
Is a rise in brain tumours linked to the radiation sources we hold so close to our heads? Experts can’t agree on the answer.
Allegations of lobbying, bad science, not enough science, conflicts of interest, political inertia, scaremongering and lawsuits: the debate surrounding the safety of mobile phones has it all. With more than 5 billion users worldwide, mobile phones have undoubtedly become central to modern life in just two decades, but could they be a health hazard?
Scientists at the Children with Cancer conference in London this week will advocate that governments adopt the ‘precautionary principle’ – advising phone users to take simple steps to protect themselves and their children from potential, not proven, long term health risks of electromagnetic fields - especially head cancers.
They will call for urgent research into new Office of National Statistics figures that suggest a 50 per cent increase in frontal and temporal lobe tumours – the areas of the brain most susceptible to the electromagnetic radiation emitted by mobile phones – between 1999 and 2009.
Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion and Green Party leader, will next week table an Early Day Motion calling for mandatory safety information at the point of sale, and for widely publicized advice, for young people in particular, to text, use headsets or corded landlines for long calls.
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IS YOUR CHILD’S MOBILE GIVING THEM CANCER? |
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The Sunday Express,22 April 2012
IF you are a parent of the one in three under-10s who now owns a phone, you’ll be aware of the current Department of Health advice: “Children should only use mobile phones for essential purposes and keep all calls short.” If you have not read this advice, possibly because it is tucked away on an obscure website, you might now be wondering how long your child can safely use their phone before their brain turns to mushy peas.
The Government’s view is that parents should take responsibility for whether or not their children have phones in the first place.
Despite the warning about restricting child usage a Department of Health (DoH) spokesman says there is no evidence that mobiles cause tumours but then adds that the scientific evidence is always under review. So what is the scientific evidence?
Next week the charity Children With Cancer is holding a conference in London and one of the subjects it will debate is “brain tumours, mobile phones and childhood cancer”, chaired by Geoffrey Pilkington.
A professor of cellular and molecular neuro-oncology for four decades, he believes that parents should adopt precautions: “If there is any possibility that mobiles can cause tumours, it would suggest children are more vulnerable because their brain cells are still dividing. Anyone who has children wants them to be exposed to risk as little as possible. Therefore until we know more about all possible risks, not only from radiation, parents might want to think carefully about giving children a phone.”
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Mobile phones could damage unborn babies, researchers claim |
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The Telegraph, 21 March 2012
Radiation from mobile phones may affect the brain development of unborn babies, the lead author of a controversial animal study has claimed.
Pregnant mice placed in the vicinity of an active mobile phone gave birth to offspring which showed signs of hyperactivity, anxiety and poor memory.
Infant mice whose mothers were not exposed to the radiation were not affected the same way.
The changes were attributed to impaired development of neurons in the prefrontal cortex of the brain.
According to the US scientist who led the research, the same effects could potentially occur in humans.
Professor Hugh Taylor, from Yale University, believes mobile phones might even be partly responsible for rising rates of behavioural disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
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Cell Phone Report Calls for More Responsible Management to Protect Children and Pregnant Women |
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PRWEB, 1 February 2012
Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI) today released a new report calling for tougher standards to regulate cellular technologies—especially for children and pregnant women.
Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI) is releasing a new report calling for tougher standards to regulate cellular technologies—especially for children and pregnant women. This report is the first part of a project researching the health effects of cell phone use. EHHI has reviewed hundreds of peer-reviewed studies that have examined the potential health threats associated with cellular device use, along with the regulatory standards that have been adopted by the U.S. and other nations. This report provides the context for the second section of the project: an animal study designed to investigate the health effects on offspring of cell phone exposures during pregnancy.
John Wargo, Ph.D., professor of Environmental Risk and Policy at Yale University and lead author of the report, said, “The scientific evidence is sufficiently robust showing that cellular devices pose significant health risks to children and pregnant women. The weight of the evidence supports stronger precautionary regulation by the federal government. The cellular industry should take immediate steps to reduce emission of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from phones and avoid marketing their products to children.”
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India spells out the truth on mobile phone radiation levels |
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The Telegraph, 20 January 2012
An official inquiry 12 years ago recommended that the widely varying levels of radiation given off by mobile phones should be displayed when they were sold. Successive governments have failed to implement this recommendation. But now India may be beating us to it.
New guidelines laid down by the country’s official Telecom Engineering Centre suggest that the levels should be shown on each handset. And this week, the Delhi government moved to ensure that they are prominently displayed.
It’s scarcely a radical suggestion. The British committee was chaired by Sir William Stewart, a former government chief scientist, and contained several of the experts who have been most sceptical about radiation dangers from handsets. Since its report, the evidence that mobile phones can cause cancer after long-term use has strengthened. Last summer the World Health Organisation classified them as a “possible carcinogen”.
The mobile-phone industry has long vigorously fought such an apparently reasonable step – which may be one reason why our pliant governments have neglected to take it – and has already declared its opposition to the Indian plans. When San Francisco proposed a similar measure some years ago, the industry both called in the lawyers and announced that it would stop holding its lucrative annual exhibition, bringing some 68,000 people to the city. What, one wonders, does it have to hide?
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Mobile alert: Government sets alarm bell ringing on phone hazards as all handsets in Delhi to come with radiation emission tags |
Delhi government asks Centre to frame rules for mushrooming cell towers
Mail Online India, 18 January 2012
In a first, the Delhi government plans to make it mandatory for all mobile phones sold in the national Capital to prominently display the level of radiation emitted by different brands of handsets.
The radiation tag is intended to forewarn consumers about the health hazards posed by the various handsets.
The decision to introduce the stringent norm was taken at a meeting of experts from the state health department, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and World Health Organization (WHO) here on Wednesday.
The meeting, chaired by state health minister A.K. Walia, also decided to put certain restrictions on the mobile phone towers across Delhi and has asked the Centre to frame rules for the mushrooming towers.
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Risks of mobile phones to children are being 'downplayed' |
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The Ecologist, 14 November, 2011
Industry repeats the mantra 'children should be discouraged from using mobiles excessively' while doing nothing to ensure it happens, says Vicky Fobel from the campaign group MobileWise.
The wireless world is exploding. New wireless applications are being developed constantly and there are now more mobile phones than people in the UK. Even young children are buying into mobile technology in their millions.
Along with the convenience mobiles afford, however, come concerns. How is the radiation they produce affecting our health and the health of our children?
Official advice acknowledges that there may be a problem but plays it down. Manufacturers meanwhile imply there is no evidence of ill-effects and that, if mobiles were harmful, those problems would be manifesting themselves by now.
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Mobile phones could be 'health time bomb': More than 200 academic studies link use with serious illnesses |
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Daily Mail, 9 November 2011
Mobile phones could be a 'health time bomb', say experts who are urging ministers to warn the public.
More than 200 academic studies link use of the devices with serious health conditions such as brain tumours, according to a group of leading scientists.
In a report published yesterday, they say the Government is underplaying the potentially 'enormous' health risks – especially for children, whose smaller, thinner skulls are more susceptible to radiation.
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HEALTH ALERT FOR CHILDREN WHO USE MOBILE PHONES |
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The Daily Express, 9 November 2011
URGENT action is needed to curb childrens’ use of mobile phones because of fears they can cause cancer and a host of other illnesses, experts said last night.
An estimated eight out of 10 youngsters aged between seven and 11 now have their own mobile and ownership is also spiralling among those even younger.
But British charity MobileWise says use of the gadgets must be restricted because the young are more at risk from potentially dangerous radiation.
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'No evidence' mobiles cause cancer - but others beg to differ |
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Daily Telegraph, 21 October 2011
A large study of mobile phone users has found no evidence that longer-term users are at an increased risk of developing brain tumours.
However, the Danish study, published in the journal BMJ Open, has been criticised as being "worthless" by fellow academics who say its methods are "seriously flawed".
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British Medical Journal’s Upcoming Cell Phone Study Deeply Flawed, Say Experts |
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CisionWire, 20 October 2011
Environmental Health Trust and Other Experts Expose Major Flaws in New Danish Study Claiming No Significant Cancer Risks from Cell Phone Use.
A new study to be released online today “Use of mobile phones and risk of brain tumours: update of Danish cohort study,” in the British Medical Journal, claims “to show no link between mobile phone use and tumours.” However, the study is seriously flawed, say technical experts from the U.K., United States, Austria, Sweden and Australia, who have provided critical reviews on the embargoed study to Environmental Health Trust, a research and public educational group and ElectromagneticHealth.org, a health education and advocacy group in the United States.
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Also see powerwatch and mobilewise
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Mobile phones 'DON'T raise risk of brain cancer,' says largest study of the subject so far |
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Daily Mail, 21 October 2011
Using a mobile phone does not increase the risk of brain cancer, claim scientists.
Research into cancer rates of one of the largest groups of mobile phone users ever studied found no difference compared with people who did not use them.
It is the second major study this year to rule out any change in rates of the disease - despite more than 70 million mobile phones being used in the UK.
Researchers led by the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen found cancer rates in the central nervous system were almost the same in both long-term mobile phone users and non-users
The latest Danish study investigated data on more than 358,000 mobile users over 18 years, thought to be the longest follow-up so far.
But campaigners insisted the research was 'seriously flawed' and would falsely reassure mobile phone users.
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UK Riots and Moral Collapse - Is this a possible cause? |
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Moral judgments can be altered ... by magnets
MIT News, 10 March, 2010
By disrupting brain activity in a particular region, neuroscientists can sway people’s views of moral situations.
To make moral judgments about other people, we often need to infer their intentions — an ability known as “theory of mind.” For example, if one hunter shoots another while on a hunting trip, we need to know what the shooter was thinking: Was he secretly jealous, or did he mistake his fellow hunter for an animal?
MIT neuroscientists have now shown they can influence those judgments by interfering with activity in a specific brain region — a finding that helps reveal how the brain constructs morality.
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Report: Cell phone use could reduce sperm count |
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CNET, August 18, 2011.
Gentlemen, your cell phone could be your closest enemy. According to an Italian report published in the Journal of Andrology (PDF), researchers in the United States and around the world have found that the radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR) emitted by cell phones may decrease sperm count and damage sperm quality.
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HOW TO PROPERLY READ A SCIENTIFIC PAPER – ADOLESCENT BRAIN TUMOURS AND MOBILE PHONES. |
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Dr Magda Havas, August 17, 2011.
Scientific documents published in peer-reviewed journals are intended to be read by scientists with specific areas of specialization. A layperson, a journalist and even a scientist–who specializes in a different field–may find reading and comprehending such a document difficult. Critiquing such documents is what we teach university students. Once they learn how to decipher a scientific paper and decompose a study, they no longer need to rely on the opinion of others about that document. Teaching students how to think for themselves is one of the roles of a university professor.
I recently read Mobile phone use and brain tumors in children and adolescents: A multicenter case-control study, published in June 2011 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. What is in the abstract of this publication and what has been quoted by the press is not a fair and honest representation of the findings of this study.
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Researchers Find "Stunning" Evidence of Cell Phone Dangers |
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Mobiledia, 24 May 2011
Researchers have reported evidence that cell phone radiation has a variety of alarming biological effects, which are sure to fuel concerns about whether or not phones impact human health.
Scientists reportedly found that GSM signals fragmented insect DNA in ovarian cells, that a brief "mild electromagnetic field" affects bone formation in fetuses, and that cell phone-frequency radiation increased the permeability of the blood-brain barrier in young adult male rats.
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Cellphones may harm memory, pregnancy, brain cells -- in rats, mice and rabbits. Maybe. |
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Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2011
Steady exposure to the electromagnetic radiation given off by cellphones during use may disrupt fetal development, disturb memory and weaken the barrier that protects the brain from environmental toxins, says a welter of new research being presented this week in Istanbul, Turkey.
The authors of the studies, published in the past two years, highly preliminary and conducted on rabbits, mice and rats, suggested that the non-ionizing radiation emitted by cellphones and the base stations that broadcast cellphone signals may fundamentally damage cells by means other than the heat that they generate. That is a highly controversial assertion, because scientists have asserted that the only kind of radiation that causes cancer and DNA damage is ionizing radiation such as that emitted by nuclear material. The microwave radiation emitted by working cellphones simply does not have the power to scramble DNA or disrupt cell function, they say.
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As Berkeley waits on passing cellphone sales guidelines, some fear potential health risks |
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The Daily Californian, 24 April 2011
As buzz regarding the potential health effects of cellphones rapidly builds across the nation, the city of Berkeley's possible move toward new guidelines for phone sales is slowing.
Originally looking to follow in the footsteps of San Francisco - the first city in the nation to pass an ordinance in June last year requiring cellphone retailers to display the level of radiation emitted by each phone it sells - the Berkeley City Council decided in December to draft an ordinance that would mandate a similar disclosure for cellphone sales in the city. The council had planned to vote on it in the following months.
But now, San Francisco's ordinance - initially set to take effect in February - has been challenged by CTIA-The Wireless Association, the organization that represents the cellphone industry. As San Francisco works to revise its legislation, Berkeley has decided to wait before taking any further steps.
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Cellphone Use Tied to Changes in Brain Activity |
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The New York Times, 22 February 2011
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have found that less than an hour of cellphone use can speed up brain activity in the area closest to the phone antenna, raising new questions about the health effects of low levels of radiation emitted from cellphones.
The researchers, led by Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, urged caution in interpreting the findings because it is not known whether the changes, which were seen in brain scans, have any meaningful effect on a person’s overall health.
But the study, published Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, is among the first and largest to document that the weak radio-frequency signals from cellphones have the potential to alter brain activity.
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