Can You Hear Me Now With That Instrument Of Death In Your Hands?

MayorBob.

Posted to SciTech on Sun Jul 27, 2008 at 10:52:39 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.

Reports that cell phone usage increases the likelihood of brain cancer have been out for some time now. The main culprit is seen as the electromagnetic radiation (ER) emitted by the devices. For the most part, the industry and the federal government seem to agree that cell phone usage is perfectly safe. They've been backed up by study upon study which says so. However, there's at least one expert in the field who is warning maybe you should think twice about using them, just to be on the safe side.

Dr. Ronald Herberman is the director of the University of Pittsburgh's Cancer Institute. The advice his Institute is giving is adults should be wary of using cell phones on anything but the speaker mode and children should absolutely not use them at all. Herberman is basing this advice on early unpublished results. This comes after conflicting assessments of the cause and effect relationship between cell phone use and brain cancer. Herberman's take is it's going to take too long to know for certain what the truth is and our childrens' health is too important to put at risk, "err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later."

The media is picking up on this story and one local Pittsburgh outlet offers a list of tips on reducing exposure to ER from mobile devices. Among the key tips are to keep cell phones out of the hands of kids and use them yourself in speaker mode. It also suggests text messaging over voice communication. Devra Lee Davis, a staff member of the Cancer Institute concurs with the list of tips as prudent as opposed to "playing Russian roulette with your brain." Joshua Muscat, from Penn State, disagrees saying that no studies yet have turned up with a definite link between cell phone use and brain cancer and says the Swedish study Herberman is relying upon as the basis for the warning was biased and flawed. Joe Farren, from CTIA - The Wireless Association, said his group is concerned that fear, and not science, are driving this warning and is concerned about misinforming the public based upon information which hasn't been completely analyzed. Susan Juffe may or may not be making Farren's point for him. Since she heard the news, she's taken her 10-year-old daughter's cell phone away from her. Juffe told her daughter, "I don't want to get it (brain cancer) and I certainly don't want you to get it." In case you were wondering how much of an ER emitter your device might be, CNET lists the top ten ER emitting models with a link to the ten lowest.