WHO: Cell phone use can increase possible cancer risk

CNN reports: Radiation from cell phones can possibly cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization. The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same "carcinogenic hazard" category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.

Before its announcement today, WHO had assured consumers that no adverse health effects had been established.

A team of 31 scientists from 14 countries, including the United States, made the decision after reviewing peer-reviewed studies on cell phone safety. The team found enough evidence to categorize personal exposure as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."

What that means is that right now there haven't been enough long-term studies conducted to make a clear conclusion if radiation from cell phones are safe, but there is enough data showing a possible connection that consumers should be alerted.

"The biggest problem we have is that we know most environmental factors take several decades of exposure before we really see the consequences," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The type of radiation coming out of a cell phone is called non-ionizing. It is not like an X-ray, but more like a very low-powered microwave oven.

"What microwave radiation does in most simplistic terms is similar to what happens to food in microwaves, essentially cooking the brain. So in addition to leading to a development of cancer and tumors, there could be a whole host of other effects like cognitive memory function, since the memory temporal lobes are where we hold our cell phones."

The voices urging caution to consumers have gotten louder in recent years.

Manufacturers of many popular cell phones already warn consumers to keep their device away from their body.

The Apple iPhone 4 safety manual says for users' radiation exposure to not exceed FCC guidelines, "When using iPhone near your body for voice calls or for wireless data transmission over a cellular network, keep iPhone at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) away from the body."

Blackberry Bold advises users to, "keep the BlackBerry device at least 0.98 in. (25 mm) from your body when the BlackBerry device is transmitting."

Comments

Home Inspector Marketing said…
Whether this issue is true or not, the fact that we’re facing right now is that we can’t just stop using cellphones, cause it’s now part of our daily lives. Communication means everything to us and mobile phones gives the best out of it. The only thing we could do about this, is for cellphone manufactures to do some serious research to lessen or to remove the negative effect on our health, and just hope that they could do that.
May 31, 2011 at 11:40 PM
Personal Home Inspector said…
Day by day, when technology rises, the risk which associated with it is also rising. Cell phone cause many problems for our body organs. They can affect on our hormones and increase the risk of cancer. World Health Organization released this news to make people aware from this fact .So people have to become more careful and use cell phones as lees as possible.
June 1, 2011 at 10:08 PM
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