Cell Phones & Your Health

People often ask about the safety of cell phones and electromagnetic radiation. While this is a type of radiation it is different than medical radiation like C.T. scanners which is also different from spilled radiation from nuclear reactors. It is no wonder people are confused.

Radiation follows the laws of physics so the amount and potency can be measured. Time, distance and shielding is your best protection against exposure. The shorter the time, the longer the distance from it to you and what the radiation has to pass through are all important considerations for radiation exposure. Are there health issues connected to their use?

The trouble with a cell phone is that as long as it is turned on it produces energy which emits from the device. If you have it on all the time and it is in your pocket then you do get exposure as the phone itself is not only receiving energy but sending it. Even if you have no coverage (bars) the phone is still emitting. Can you use something to shield yourself from this energy? Not really  because if you do the phone wouldn’t work very well. Keeping your call short is good. I think carrying the phone in a purse, man bag or placing on a center console in a car is a good idea. Using it on speaker phone is helpful, too.

Are there health issues in play from prolonged cell phone exposure? Well, this is difficult to know for sure but a great deal of research has been done in Sweden. This research wasn’t the type of research where you control the variables and change only one parameter and see what happens. Rather, it was a review of socialized medical records of diseases and then a comparison made with people who used cell phones a lot and with those who didn’t. Some, but not much, evidence emerged causing one to go, hmmmmm.

Some brain tumors, breast tumors and testicular tumors showed up more than expected. The researchers thought that if you held the phone tightly to your ear, carried the phone in the bra or kept it in the front pocket then risk was increased, barely.

They did say the biggest risk was to the youngest as children have thinner skulls (shielding) and their bodies are growing and changing much faster than an adult. Actually, this risk is similar to medical or nuclear reactor radiation, too.

Other than the suggestions above what more can you do? Keep a healthful diet in place emphasizing home cooking with fresh food while supplementing with any number of antioxidants would do well for you.