The True Risks Of Cell Phone Use

February 29, 2012

Natural News

By Lloyd Burrell

Cells phones are one of the most utilized, most convenient inventions of the twentieth century. While there are definite advantages to using cell phones, e.g., being in contact with loved ones at all times, as with any convenience or luxury there are usually some downfalls or consequences. With cell phones the consequences can be detrimental and therefore, should not be dismissed lightly.

Cell phones are a source of electromagnetic fields, radiation which creates change in anything it comes into contact with. EMFs emanate from mobile phones and because of how phones are used, these EMFs come into direct contact with the brain.

More than a dozen studies have linked using a cell phone for a long period of time — ten years or more — with a higher incidence of brain tumors and acoustic neuromas. These critical diagnoses are even more common when phones aren’t switched from one side of the head to the other when engaged in conversation.

Other adverse health effects include:

• Evidence of leukemia, breast cancer and other cancers.

• Neurological concerns and changes in the nervous system.

• A much higher risk of salivary gland tumors.

A study from the Medical University of Graz in Austria showed that cell phone use negatively affects sperm quality in men. A similar study from 2009 examined men in the height of their reproductive years and found infertility and the ability to father a healthy baby were compromised by cell phone usage.

Cells phones are also a source of perfluorooctanoic acid, a harmful chemical which has been linked to heart disease, cancer and female reproductive/developmental damage.

Cell phones are not the only problem. Cell phone towers, as well as other wireless devices, are responsible for contributing non-ionizing radio frequencies into the environment. Both the World Health Organization and the International Association for Research on Cancer have classified the electromagnetic fields emitted by cell phones as a 2B, possible carcinogen. The towers and the phones themselves are constantly emitting microwave radiation. Even when cell phones are not in use they are putting out EMFs.

Click here for the full report from Natural News.

Are Microwaves Causing Children’s Asthma?

August 2nd, 2011

TIME Healthland

By: Alice Park

Exposure to electromagnetic fields has been linked to a number of health problems, including cancer and immune system and reproductive abnormalities, and now the latest research adds another concern to the list: childhood asthma.

In the first study of its kind, scientists strapped magnetic field monitors on pregnant women to determine their level of exposure, and studied whether it was associated with the risk of asthma in their children. They found that children born to women with the highest levels of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) — including from microwaves, hair dryers and power lines — had a more than three-fold higher rate of asthma compared to those whose moms had the lowest exposure.

The monitors specifically measured low-frequency magnetic fields, which often co-exist with electromagnetic energy, says lead author Dr. De-Kun Li, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente Division of Research.

They study builds on previous work Li and his group have done looking at the effect of EMF exposure on miscarriage. In that investigation, Li found that women with high levels of exposure had double the risk of miscarrying than women with lower levels of EMF exposure.

Li’s team then followed-up with the women who delivered and recorded the number of cases of asthma among their children 13 years later. The researchers focused on asthma because the recent, rapid increase in cases of the disorder suggests that an environmental trigger may be at play; there are genetic components to the immune system disorder as well, but genes simply don’t change that fast in populations.

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Li’s team looked at the link between asthma and EMF levels because people are much more likely to be exposed to these fields now than ever before. “EMF is really increasing partially because electricity use is increasing, through electronic devices and wireless networks,” he says.

Li asked the women wearing the monitors to record where they spent their days. Their time could be divided into one of five place categories: home but not in bed, home and in bed, at work, traveling, or everywhere else. The women were not able to see their level of magnetic field exposure, so as not to bias their behavior.

Li found that exposure levels were about the same in all locations, but he attributes the most exposure to EMF to the use of common household appliances such as the microwave oven, vacuum cleaner and hair dryer. Pretty much anything that uses electricity, he says, including refrigerators, stoves, automobiles and power lines, generates low-frequency EMF.

What the devices were not designed to measure, however, was exposure to higher-frequency magnetic fields such as those emitted by cell phones and wireless networks, which are ubiquitous in homes and offices. These may be nearly impossible to avoid, but Li suggests that pregnant women can at least reduce some of their exposure to the low-frequency fields. Don’t stand in front of the microwave when it’s heating food, for example, and hold the hair dryer as far away from your belly as possible, or switch to a dryer that’s battery operated.

“Pregnancy is the most sensitive time for the fetus,” Li says. “Animal studies show that EMF can impact the immune system, and the latest research suggests that cells use magnetic fields to communicate with each other. If an external EMF comes into interfere with that, cell communication needed for normal development can be disrupted.”

Click here for the full report from TIME Healthland

Cordless and Cell Phones Can Cause Heart Irregularities

October 25th, 2010

Raw Story

By: Eric Dolan

Microwave radiation produced by digital cordless phones and other cordless devices, such as cellular phones, can cause irregular heartbeats and other symptoms, according to a little-noticed study published Friday in the peer-reviewed European Journal of Oncology.

The study found that microwave radiation from cordless phones could nearly double the heart rate of those with a condition referred to as “electrohypersensitivity.”

The World Health Organization defines electrohypersensitivity as “a phenomenon where individuals experience adverse health effects while using or being in the vicinity of devices emanating electric, magnetic, or electromagnetic fields (EMFs).”

Based on current trends, by 2017, 50 percent of the population can be expected to become electrosensitive, according to an article published in the journal Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine.

In the study, which was led by Professor Magda Havas of Trent University in Canada, twenty-five participants sat near a cordless phones while their heart rate variability was monitored.

“The phone we used was an AT&T digital ally pulsed (100 Hz) cordless telephone that operates at 2.4 GHz or frequencies commonly used for microwave ovens and Wi-Fi,” Havas and her colleagues say in their study.

The amount of microwave radiation produced by these cordless phones is far below the federal guidelines in Canada and the United States, which prohibit levels of microwave radiation exposure above 1000microW/cm2.

While sitting near the cordless phone, the authors of the study connected either a live power cord or a sham cord to the phone. The participants did not know whether the cordless phone was connected to a real or fake cord, a procedure known as a “blind.”

Forty percent of the participants had a “moderate to severe reaction” when the cordless phone was connected to a live power cord and emitting microwaves. The effects of the microwaves included arrhythmia (irregular heart beats) and/or tachycardia (rapid heart rate).

In contrast to older participants, those between the ages of 37 to 58 displayed the most intense reaction to exposure to microwaves, “presumably because they were healthy enough to mount a response to a stressor.”

Other symptoms reportedly caused by electrohypersensitivity include headaches, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, poor short-term memory, chronic fatigue, difficulty sleeping, skin problems, tinnitus, nausea, and dizziness.

“This study provides scientific evidence that some individuals may experience arrhythmia, heart palpitations, heart flutter, or rapid heartbeat and/or vasovagal symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, profuse sweating and syncope when exposed to electromagnetic devices,” explains Havas and her colleagues in their study.

“While not everyone who is electrically sensitive responds in this manner, those who do will have difficulty being in environments where microwave radiation is present, which is virtually everywhere in our modern, wireless culture,” adds Havas. “Cordless phones and cell phones as well as wireless computers and wi-fi networks generate this form of microwave radiation.”

Click here for the full report from Raw Story