Have you heard, cellphones are deadly. Science told us so this week when Dr. Ronald B. Herberman of the esteemed University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute realized that cellphones emit death rays that fry your brain and turn you into a baby-eating Communist, or give you cancer or whatever. Dr. Despair isn’t a downer though! Inside, 10 practical ways to keep your precious little brain safe from those ubiquitous chirping cancer slabs…
1. Do not allow children to use a cell phone, except for emergencies. The developing organs of a fetus or child are the most likely to be sensitive to any possible effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields.
2. While communicating using your cell phone, try to keep the cell phone away from the body as much as possible. The amplitude of the electromagnetic field is one fourth the strength at a distance of two inches and fifty times lower at three feet. Whenever possible, use the speaker-phone mode or a wireless Bluetooth headset, which has less than 1/100th of the electromagnetic emission of a normal cell phone. Use of a hands-free ear piece attachment may also reduce exposures.
3. Avoid using your cell phone in places, like a bus, where you can passively expose others to your phone’s electromagnetic fields.
4. Avoid carrying your cell phone on your body at all times. Do not keep it near your body at night such as under the pillow or on a bedside table, particularly if pregnant. You can also put it on “flight” or “off-line” mode, which stops electromagnetic emissions.
5. If you must carry your cell phone on you, make sure that the keypad is positioned toward your body and the back is positioned toward the outside so that the transmitted electromagnetic fields move away from your rather than through you.
6. Only use your cell phone to establish contact or for conversations lasting a few minutes, as the biological effects are directly related to the duration of exposure. For longer conversations, use a land line with a corded phone, not a cordless phone, which uses electromagnetic emitting technology similar to that of cell phones.
7. Switch sides regularly while communicating on your cell phone to spread out your exposure. Before putting your cell phone to the ear, wait until your correspondent has picked up. This limits the power of the electromagnetic field emitted near your ear and the duration of your exposure.
8. Avoid using your cell phone when the signal is weak or when moving at high speed, such as in a car or train, as this automatically increases power to a maximum as the phone repeatedly attempts to connect to a new relay antenna.
9. When possible, communicate via text messaging rather than making a call, limiting the duration of exposure and the proximity to the body.
10. Choose a device with the lowest SAR possible (SAR = Specific Absorption Rate, which is a measure of the strength of the magnetic field absorbed by the body). SAR ratings of contemporary phones by different manufacturers are available by searching for “sar ratings cell phones” on the internet.
Of course, science doesn’t actually know for certain whether cellphones are safe or whether they cause debilitating brain tumors. “Further research is needed” is a common refrain, though this is the sort of thing that will work itself out over the next decade as more, um, tumors data become available.
Important Precautionary Advice Regarding Cell Phone Use [University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute via firedoglake] (Thanks to Shaula!)
(Photo: Getty)
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This is fucking stupid. Now, we’re supposed to treat our cellphones as a radioactive device. Next, some idiot like Al Gore will start some kind of “crisis” over the notion that cell phones are dangerous. The truth is that they don’t emit any more electromagnetic radiation any other electronic devices such as computers, televisions, etc. This is all horse shit.
@lordargent: I don’t use phones during a storm unless it is an emergency.
So now I’ve learned not to allow my fetus to use my cell phone.
Oh, you mean “off”? The mode where you can’t receive calls? Yeah. That’s useful.
Here we go… Cell phones are the new cigarettes. Watch out for that second hand cell phone radiation exposure! It’s just as deadly!
This is stupid. Cell phones don’t cause cancer and if you think they do, you’re stupid.
“Cell phones haven’t been around long enough for us to have long term data” – no but guess what, humans have been exposed to electromagnetic emissions FOREVER, we evolved with bodies which are not affected by it.
I’m surprised to see The Consumerist fall for this bullshit… even if they are treating it less than seriously, they shouldn’t reprint this kind of FUD-spreading nonsense. I’m disappointed in you guys.
@gymnjim: “In science you wait for the data before making pronouncements.” The only problem is, once the data is in, if it turns out we are all going to die from brain tumors, it will be too late.
Could someone please explain to me why my cell phone is going to kill me, but having my bluetooth earpiece in my ear won’t?
@LostAngeles: Yes, in fact, cell phones use frequencies which are less energetic than visible light and infrared. For the most part, the radiation will pass right through most matter without being absorbed. However, there are specific frequencies even in extremely low-energy bands that carry almost the exact same amount of energy as certain vibrational modes of biological important molecules which could impart such vibrations to those molecules. This is basically the principle by which microwave ovens work. They excite certain vibrations of water molecules, and those vibrations break down into translational movement which, on a molecular level, is heat. The dangers from things like microwaves (and the cellphone bands are in the microwave range, although not quite the same frequencies as the ovens) are from the possibility that absorbed radiation could result in a vibrational mode in that destabilizes biological molecules in such a way that they can react or malfunction. In the case of ionizing radiation, that will often cause biological molecules to directly break apart (by exciting them to a vibrational state where the vibration imparted to a specific bond exceeds the maximum bond length, kind of like pulling a slinky until it breaks), leaving free radicals which rapidly react resulting in all kinds of badness, biologically speaking. Ultimately, cell phone radiation is FAR FAR less likely cause a mutations and is therefore FAR FAR less dangerous than ionizing radiation. But there still exists a possibility that it can trigger a mutation, and with any mutation, there is a possibility that it will be harmful to the organism. It’s a remote possibility, but a possibility nonetheless.
@Matthew Hughes: @The_Gas_Man: I actually lol’d at both of those comments.
@SigmundTheSeaMonster: Which is non-ionizing. Bluetooth, some cordless phones, and my WiFi at least, run at 2.4GHz which is a higher frequency and therefore a higher energy than your average cellphone or microwave. Or you could simply read down the thread.
@dangermike: Exactly, but it’s so remote, I’m more concerned about an earthquake. This whole thing strikes me as SCARE TACTICS using the scary word, “radiation.”
@jonworld: Correlation does not equal causation. Give us more information on this study or I’m going to think that there’s one obvious reason why people might not get a good night’s sleep if their phone is on while they try sleep (IMO that ringing thing they do doesn’t make for a good night’s sleep).
I’m a bit skeptical of this article. It seems a bit too lacking in hard data and too many statements are qualified with “may”. Even the main publication they’re counting on hasn’t actually been published and they don’t provide any information to indicate that they have an inside line on what it’ll cover.
It seems like work that cherry picked what it wanted to make it’s point and ratcheted up the whole fear factor as a way of giving itself some self importance.
@dhmosquito: It’s not just cell phones. In typical fashion people went after the easy target and completely ignored the overriding problem (i.e. inattention). Do we want safer roads? Then make any driver inattention a crime, don’t get into involved conversations with your passengers (i.e. don’t yell at your kids if they misbehave in the car), don’t touch the radio while driving (or just do away with it and DVD/video game system in cars). Don’t drive if you didn’t get a full night’s rest. Etc… etc…
Or better yet how about educating people on the need to pay attention while driving. Don’t eat, don’t shave, don’t apply make-up, etc… Just drive. Of course that would be too hard so we just make it illegal for people to have their phone up to their ear while driving (but using a headset is ok even though that negates the entire pay attention thing).
@nonzenze:
I’m glad you said it, because I thought I was going crazy.
Any “study” that doesn’t understand how EM works WRT directionality isn’t worth paying attention to.
@gymnjim: The whole thing fails the smell test.
The earth puts out .3 to .6 milligauss continuously, 24hrs a day, your entire life.
The average modern digital cellphone (PCS/CDMA)held at the ear is about 1 to 3 times that level, depending on the mode, active, standby or “burst”.
So holding it for a reasonable amount of time to the ear should not matter over any exposure time. Even 24 hrs a day would only be 2-3x the natural exposure.
You get far more from using the microwave for 5 minutes a day.
@ds143:
/slowly takes laptop off lap, places on couch.
//quickly walks away.
Too bad I put my phone on my nightstand by me bed…it’s my alarm clock most of the time, and I live with a roommate, so if family calls or there’s an emergency or something happens, it’s nice to know when it happens, not the next morning. This list is dumb. And why put my phone on speaker for the whole world to hear? Because “whenever possible” is less than 5% of the time for me.
I have seen a study that found leaving a cell phone next to your head while asleep [even if it's shut off] impacts your brain, but then again, I’m sure the alarm clock you have nearby does, too.
I did find a study that shows EEG-determined sleep is delayed when sleeping next to a turned-on cell, but that’s just one study. [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
But then, the BJM just published the results of a German study that said these phones pose no health risk.
[www.bmj.com]
Who knows.
“Of course, science doesn’t actually know for certain whether cellphones are safe”
Yes they do, what kind of ridiculous article is this?
@qhobbit: At least we know which idiots to avoid approaching with serious discussion
LOL Holy crap this was news? I work at the UPCI, and when we all got this email we literally laughed out loud and made fun of it for at least 20 min. We all got a hoot out of #3 and said the next time we passed Herberman in the halls we’d whip out our cellphones and chase him away like a vampire with a cross.
He’s retiring next year, so I guess he figured he’d go out with a bang. Seriously, the guy is like your mother with the charisma of a potato. I guess now I realize why he “felt the need”: press release. This just makes it that much richer.
>.< !
Next: Radio, poison for the mind, literally? Film at 11.
I’m not a physics geek, but come on… almost every suggestion shows a serious lack of even basic understanding of microwave EM prorogation it’s astounding.
Wait..where’s the study here? I’ll I see is a bunch of oncologists that “suspect” phones cause brain cancer without having any evidence of that whatsoever.
The most recent studies, which include subjects with a history of cell phone usage for a duration of at least 10 years, show a possible association between certain benign tumors (acoustic neuromas) and some brain cancers on the side the device is used.[6, 7, 8, 9]
However, human epidemiological studies on cell phones conducted to date cannot be conclusive. Due to their recently increased use, we are not yet able to evaluate their long term impact on health.
So we have some people who’ve had used a cell-phone for 10 years that end up with benign tumors that might possibly be associated with brain cancer. Could that connection as stated be any more vague? And then in the next paragraph, it goes on to say that there’s not enough data yet to asses long term impact on health.
Wait…what’s that whole thing about science again…forming a hypothesis and then testing that hypothesis over and over again to see if it’s true? Wow, I’d expect better from well-educated doctors than just throwing out loose speculation in order to scare people. Additionally, just because they are doctors doesn’t mean they know anything about RF.
Don’t believe something without verfiable proof, double-blind scientific studies or peer reviewed experiments to back it up. Other physicist are very skeptical of this:
“By now everyone has heard the news frenzy over Ronald Herberman, Director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, advising faculty and staff to limit cell phone use because there is no proof that it’s not a cancer risk. Nonsense! All cancer agents act by disrupting chemical bonds. In a classic 2001 op-ed LBL physicist Robert Cahn explained that Einstein won the 1905 Nobel Prize in Physics for showing that cell phones can’t cause cancer. The threshold energy of the photoelectric effect, for which Einstein won the prize, lies at the extreme blue end of the visible spectrum in the near ultraviolet. The same near-ultraviolet rays can also cause skin cancer. Red light is too weak to cause cancer. Cell-phone radiation is 10,000 times weaker.” ~Bob Parks
@Grrrrrrrrr: Well, the problem is, you can’t bake a bunch of people’s brains with radio waves and see what happens (well, ethically – maybe China’s doing this study already). And, doing it to rats, etc. would be pointless. Maybe monkeys, but research monkeys are hard to get now (never mind the cost and trying to get it through the animal ethical use committee), and even then, still not quite the right size. They showed computer models in the email attachment of hypothesized brain penetration, but I never trust computer models when it comes to biologic systems: you can’t model what you don’t know (and I wish to God that someone would explain that to PETA).
“3. Avoid using your cell phone in places, like a bus, where you can passively expose others to your phone’s electromagnetic fields.”
How long till the cries for banning cell phone use in public because it causes “secondhand cellphone syndrome”?
You think I’m joking, but who would have thought even 10 years ago we’d be banning smoking in public.
Meh whatever. I use my cellphone and so does everyone else around me in my city. I liked #3 hah. About 50% of people sitting in the bus are using their cell phones lol, wishful thinking FTW! I say, phuck it. Live life, it’s too short, use your damn cell phone 24/7 if you want. The guy next to you will never use a cell phone and be fit and healthy and he could get hit by a mack truck on his way home from work. Wifi devices are everywhere. Wifi keyboard, mouse, headset, cell phone, home phone, routers, NIC cards…
“1. Do not allow children to use a cell phone, except for emergencies. The developing organs of a fetus or child are the most likely to be sensitive to any possible effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields.”
–That’s right parents – dont let your fetuses use your cell phone. Imagine the mechanics of how that phone call would take place….
We should stop reading the Consumerist as we are exposed to the electromagnetic field from computers (particular applicable if on Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, or Air-card).
@JohnMc: OMG, i’m of the same oppinion. Expecially seeing as how they’ve yet to release how they came to these precice findings.
cellphones have been mainstreem for a decade now, lets see some retroactive studies, please.
I am now afraid of my cell phone. It’s 2 feet away, lurking, waiting to radiate me…
Although the beginning of this article does seem pretty sarcastic there is some common sense advice…I’m not waiting until there is PROOF that my cell phone killed me.
Although there isn’t a PROVEN, without a doubt, connection between cell phone and cancer…I think this is another one of those instances where there just isn’t enough time under the bridge for the effects to show up. Do I want to wait until there is proof? I don’t think so. I’ve never been much for wanting to be the proof of something being harmful. So in the meantime I’m using a headset or a speaker phone, I have a BioPro Chip on my phone and I’m wearing my BioElectric Shield. http://www.bioelectricshield.com. I think I’m at least as well protected as possible. Which chance are you betting on that cell phones do or don’t cause cancer, infertility or other diseases? Maybe caution and protection is a smart idea….how many studies have there been that this drug, additive etc is harmless…only to have it pulled off the market after thousands of deaths?