Cellphone Health Hazards

Cellphones and health fears have been heaved, chiefly after the enormous increase in the use of wireless mobile telephony all over the world. The following are some of the testimonies for its health causes. But the results of all researches are still being tested and observed for its authenticity.

Mobile phones use electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range, which is harmful to human health.

People have often been cautioned to-

· To use hands-free to reduce the radiation to the head.
· Keep the cellphone away from the body.
· Not to use telephone in a car with no external antenna.

The radio waves emitted by cellphones are absorbed by the human head which causes brain cancer. The radio waves emitted by a GSM handset, have a power of 2 watts, a US analogue phone a maximum of 3.6 watts.

Effect of microwave radiation is called dielectric heating. Dielectric material-a living tissue-gets heated by rotations of polar molecules induced by the electromagnetic field. If a person using a cell phone, most of the heating effect will occur at the surface of the head, causing its temperature to increase.

The German biophysicist Roland Glaser has argued that there are several thermo receptor molecules in cells, and that they activate a cascade of second and third messenger systems, gene expression mechanism and creation of heat alarm is caused.

Effects on Brain

Swedish researchers from Lund University-Salford, Brun, Perrson, Eberhardt, and Malmgren have studied the effects of microwave radiation on the rat brain. They found a leakage of albumin into the brain via a permeated blood-brain barrier.

Effects on normal health

Ranging from burning and tingling sensations in the skin of the head and extremities, fatigue, sleep disturbances, dizziness, loss of mental attention, reaction times and memory retentiveness, headaches, malaise, heart palpitations, to disturbances of the digestive system are complained by the cellphone users.

Effects on Genes

In 2004 researchers at the University of Athens found a reduction in reproductive capacity in fruit flies exposed to 6 minutes of 900 MHz pulsed radiation for five days.

In December 2004,

1. A pan-European study named REFLEX (Risk Evaluation of Potential Environmental Hazards from Low Energy).
2. Electromagnetic Field (EMF)

involving 12 collaborating laboratories in several countries showed some compelling evidence of DNA damage of cells in in-vitro cultures, when exposed between 0.3 to 2 watts/kg.

Cellphones and cancer

Damage to chromosomes, alterations in the activity of certain genes and a boosted rate of cell division were also reported

A Swedish scientific team at the Karolinska Institute conducted an epidemiological study in 2004 which suggests that regular use of a mobile phone over a decade or more was associated with an increased risk of acoustic neuroma, a type of benign brain tumor the study determined by the SAR inside a tumor by calculating the radiofrequency field absorption in the exact tumor location. Cases examined included glioma, meninigioma, and pituitary adenoma

Effects on Sleep

Mobile phone signals affect sleep patterns and possibly delay sleep onset during exposure.

Occupational health hazards

Telecommunication workers who spend time at a short distance from the active equipment, for the purposes of testing, maintenance, installation, etc. may be at risk of much greater exposure than the general population. Many times base stations are not turned off during maintenance, because that would affect the network, so people work near “live” antennas.