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The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on May 31, 2011 that cell phones might pose a significant risk of causing cancer. The experts at WHO have given cell phones a 2b classification, which means that there can be some risk of cancer. Cell phones could be carcinogenic or potentially carcinogenic to humans, just like lead and chloroform. However, the same report from WHO also warns that cell phones are a relatively new technology and the evidence is still being accumulated. It could take years before their long-term effects on users are fully understood.
There has always been some amount of chatter about the health related hazards from exposure to radio-frequency electromagnetic fields from handsets. Before the WHO report became public, we had a group of researchers, led by Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, coming up with their finding that that less than an hour of cellphone use can speed up brain activity in the area closest to the phone antenna. Dr. Volkows team had studied 47 people who had brain scans while a cellphone was turned on for 50 minutes and another while the phone was turned off.
However, Dr. Nora D. Volkow urged caution in interpreting the findings, as it was not known if the changes, which have been seen in the brain scans, have a lasting impact on a persons overall health. The same is the case with the WHO report, which concedes the fact that it could take many more years of research before the long term effect on cell phone users is fully understood. Many scientists have joined the debate by stating that the kind of change in brains metabolism that Dr. Volkow has discovered can also occur naturally, whenever a person is thinking. Doubts have also been expressed about the scientific methodology used by WHO in developing its report on cell phones.
There are many scientists who have also gone to the extent of saying that the so-called changes in the brains metabolic activity, that seems to occur during instances of cell phone use, could even be beneficial to the organ. Such changes in metabolism could have the effect of making the brain tissue more agile. In a modern society we are exposed to radiation not just from telecom towers and mobiles, but also from microwave ovens, from electronic telephones, from TV transmission and TV sets, from WiFi modems, from FM radio and from many other technologies and devices. Yet we dont seem to see any up tick in cases of brain cancer.
Why is the attempt being made to single out just the mobile handset! Is it because the cell phone companies are the richest in the world? Is this about targeting the rich? In Western countries microwaves have been in use for more than five decades; FM radio and cordless phones have also been in use for a long time. We are exposed to some kind of radiation even when we are working in front of your laptop or PC. So the practical experience suggests that radiation from devices does not pose a public health risk or cause any adverse health effects. In any case, now society has moved into a stage where it is impossible for us to imagine life without a cell phone in almost every hand.
If someone is really paranoid and obsessed about his health, he always has the option of investing in a Bluetooth, so that you dont have to bring your cell phone close to your brain. Some users have gone in for Bluetooth, despite the fact that this is another radio, and hence must operate through radiation. The makers of Bluetooth devices must be thrilled; their sales would be up. The brouhaha over this cancer scare is leaving a vast majority of the users unaffected, as they are not ready to ditch their cell phone for any reason at all.
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