Over the past two decades, cell phones have gone from being a luxury to a necessity. Today, more and more people are relying on cell phones and a sizeable group of consumers for the gadgets are the youngsters. But, the mobile phones use can adversely affect the mental health of youngsters, reveals a new study.
The study by the Swedish researchers suggests that children and teenagers are five times more likely to suffer a type of brain cancerdefine later in life if they use cell phones. In their research, the experts found that teenagers who started using mobiles at young age were five times more likely to suffer from glioma, a type of primary central nervous system (CNS) tumor that arises from glial cells.
And, those who started using cell phones in their 20s were twice as likely to get the tumor.
According to Lead researcher Lennart Hardell of University Hospital Orebro, kids’ thinner skulls and developing nervous systems make them particularly vulnerable to tumors, and as their heads are smaller and their skulls are thinner, the electromagnetic radiationdefine from cell phones penetrates deeper into their brains.
While presenting their study this month at the first international conference on mobile phones and health, Professor Hardell said "People who started mobile phone use before the age of 20 have more than five-fold increase in glioma.”
"This is a warning sign. It's very worrying. We should be taking precautions" Prof Hardell said, adding children under 12 should use cell phones only in case of emergencies and that teenagers should use hands-free devices or headsets.
He concluded that the earlier a person started using a mobile phone, the higher the risk of developing a brain tumor.
Cell Phones are a necessary evil. Life comes to a standstill without these gadgets. But, these handheld devices may put our health in danger, as they have an invisible evil hidden inside known as electromagnetic radiations.
These radiations include low frequency radio transmission, visible light, microwaves, X-rays etc. Though all electromagnetic radiations do not have a dangerous aspect to them like visible light, some of them can be potentially dangerous as they can be cancerous.
Due to the health safety concerns, many cell phone handset manufacturers are making constant efforts to reduce the amount of radiations emitted both from the handsets and from cellular towers.
In July, Ronald B. Herberman, MD at The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, known well for significant contributions to the important fields of tumor immunologydefine, warned people to halt or limit the use of cell phones to cut down on the imminent risk of cancer.
As per Herberman, the long term use of mobile phones can damage both the brain cells and nervous system. At the time, he suggested few ways to use the cell phones smartly to reduce the risk of brain tumors:
1. Discourage children from using cell phones.
2. Keep the cell phones at a distance from the ear while talking.
3. Avoid using cell phone in areas where the phone is unable to catch the full signal.
4. When not in use, keep the cell phone away from the body, especially from the head.
5. Preferably, switch off the cell phone at night.
6. Use text message service to convey short messages.
7. If carrying the cell phone, keypad side should face your body.
8. For log conversation, use landline.
9. While talking on the cell phone, keep changing the sides.
10. Use cell phones with lowest possible SAR (Specific Absorption Rate).
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Ionizing vs. Non-ionizing Radiation
As a long-term professional in the electro-magnetic commercial field, i.e. radio, satellite, "wireless" I have been very interested in the whole discussion regarding the possibility of radio-type radiationdefine causing cancerdefine. I believe the the mania during the 1990's about this issue was generally unwarranted because there was not sufficient scientific evidence. The overall concern did lead the FCC in the US to drastically change their CFRs to require most emitters of RF energy to conform to "safe" levels within a specified range of human contact, especially as frequency and power was increased.
There is, however, undeniable evidence that RF causes heating of human tissues, especially as frequency and/or power increases. This is how the common kitchen microwave oven operates, microwave frequencies at high power in a small area causes heating of foods.
We know that such heating can cause damage to human tissues. It is well known that long-term exposure to microwave RF energy can cause eye cataracts and can cause possible damage to human sexual organs. This has been understood for at least four decades.
The question becomes, does this heating lead to a possibility of tumors carcinogenic or otherwise? If so, are children more likely to be affected than adults? I'll leave that to the medical professionals.
One last comment, anyone that understands microwave radio engineering also understands the concept of an RF cavity. A cavity is a resonant physical space. The human head can be considered somewhat resonant within the cellphone range with the adult head resonant at the bottom of the frequency range (appx 900 MHz) and the child resonant at the top of the range (physical size of the resonant cavity decreases as the frequency increases). For one that does not understand resonance, this is somewhat similar to being in an empty room where certain vocal noises "reverberate" whereas others will not.