Debate rages on
No one can say if there is a direct link between cell phones and cancers. Naysayers declare there is nothing to worry about. Undecided experts are suggesting that access be limited for children and recommend using a head-set. A handful of scientists, including Dr. Davis and her colleague Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, are recommending that children never use cell phone, except for emergencies. Since cell phones are not a necessity, should parents err on the side of caution?
No conclusions
Rumours and recommendations have been floating since 1986 but there is not one conclusive study. We simply haven’t had the technology long enough for a long study -- after all, this is the first generation of eight-year olds with cells.
“It may be another 10, 20 years before we have the necessary statistics to make those recommendations. What we do know from radiation studies, whether it was people exposed in Hiroshima, to kids treated for cancer with radiation, is that sometimes it took 15, 20 years before people developed cancer, secondary that we could attribute to the radiation,� said Paul Song, a radiation oncologist in Los Angeles.
SAR to measure RF
Cell phones are not actually phones but super sophisticated radios, operating on the radio frequency (RF) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. It’s similar to the non-ionizing radiation given off by radio towers, televisions and microwaves. These waves are too weak to do DNA damage but science can’t yet explain the biological connection between non-ionizing radiation and cancer.
We know enough to limit exposure. SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) is the measurement of the strength of the magnetic field being absorbed by the body. In Canada and the U.S.A. the maximum SAR amount allowed is 1.6W/kg. In Europe it’s 2 W/kg.
Children more vulnerable
According to two studies completed in France and Germany, small children absorb twice as much RF when using cell phones due to their small ears along with thinner skin and skulls.
The French report completed for TELECOM ParisTech by Dr. Joe Wiart, found young children can have exposures that are twice those of adults and even higher.
The second report, conducted by Niels Kuster, the director of the IT'IS Foundation in Zurich completed for the German Federal Office of Radiation Protection (BfS) had the same results. They also reported that children’s eyes are more exposed as well are their bone marrow.
Their findings support the 1996 study by Professor Om Gandhi at the University of Utah that found radiation penetrates the brain of a child 4.2 times faster than an adult brain and the eye more than 12 times faster.
Better safe than sorry
Prominent neurosurgeons, researchers and scientists may disagree about the data but they are unanimous over one recommendation: children under the age of 12 and pregnant women should be kept off cell phones.
Tweens, teens and adults may want to follow these recommendations:
Not convinced or want to learn more? Check out: Is there a cell phone cover up? or Dangers of EMFs & your cell phone
Shelagh McNally is the editor of Green Living Online. This article convinced her skeptical teen to start using a headset.
