Ever since the introduction of mobile (cellular) phones, there have been concerns that the signals emitted by these phones may hamper with electronic medical equipment such as monitors and infusion pumps, a phenomenon known as electromagnetic interference (EMI). The use of mobile phones in the hospital and consequently, communication within hospitals has never progressed far beyond ordinary telephone landlines and one-way pagers.

Some of the places that you should never use your mobile phonesuch as in hospitals or in public places. Hospitals have a lot of electronic devices that monitor patient’s heartbeats and other thing when they are getting surgery or when they are recovering from an illness. When electromagnetic waves try to go through them, the devices sometimes stop working. You can imagine how bad that would be for doctors and nurses in hospitals who are trying to save lives. That’s why we should never use mobile phones inside of a hospital 

Any communications system within the hospital must achieve certain objectives such as low latency, high reliability, data security, and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). As ordinary pagers are passive, non-transmitting devices, they cannot generate significant EMI and thus have no EMC problems. Data security is also not at risk as the content of the message is delivered via regular hospital telephone lines and is difficult to intercept. In addition, reliability is extremely high as the signal strength is strong throughout all areas of a hospital. With these advantages, it is easy to see why the numeric pager/landline combination has been the tool of choice for intra-hospital communications for decades. However, the pager is often less than ample when it comes to latency issues

The ideal solution would be a fully integrated system, using multiple wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, wireless LAN, short-range wireless phones as well as traditional telephones..

Although cellular phones were completely banned in the University Health Network in 1994, the policy was changed in early 2000 to restrict the use of mobile phones to areas outside patient care wards. He indicated that while analog devices have been known to cause interference problems, digital devices appear to be safe to use, although they will most likely remain restricted to use outside patient care areas until they have been proven to be safe. His vision of the future of intra-hospital communications involves a single, integrated device that combines the mobile phone, pager, wireless e-mail and personal organizer, using high frequency, low power, wireless technology that would be available as a consumer electronics item.

Unfortunately, such a device is not yet available, and although technologically feasible, it might be very cost- prohibitive. While it is likely that such devices will one day be issued to hospital staff much the same way as pagers are now, it is equally clear that this is unlikely to be realized in the immediate future. Given the low purchase and usage costs, the lack of substantial risk to patients’ well being, the present availability, and the incredible streamlining of intra-hospital communications that would result, single-band, digital-only cellular phones should be considered as a practical replacement to the antiquated pagers and landline system.

Now a days people are using cell phone for exchanging ideas and communicate with others.They talk about their life with their friends and relatives and with their business associates they like to get information about deals,new projects and market. The cell is helpful for us on the one side and also release electromagnetic radiations which are harmful for our health.

So at the time a person is using cell phone he should keep on mind some points.Which are:

1.        Allow children to use a cell phone only when theree is an  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.        If you are using a  cell phone for communication, 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.

3.   .   Whenever possible, use the speaker-phone mode or a headset, which has less than 1/100th of the electromagnetic discharge of a normal cell phone. Use of a hands-free ear piece attachment may also reduce exposure.

4.     .  Avoid using your cell phone in public places, like a bus, where you can passively expose others to your phone’s electromagnetic fields.

5.        If you are pregnant,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. You can also put it on “airplane” or “off-line” mode, which stops electromagnetic emissions.

6.         If it is necessary to you carry your cell phone with 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.

7.        As the biological effects are directly related to the duration of exposure so only use your cell phone to establish contact or for conversations lasting a few minutes. For longer conversations, use a land line with a corded phone, not a mobile phone, which uses electromagnetic emitting technology similar to that of cell phones.

8.        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.

9.        When the signal is weak or moving at high speed ,avoid using your cell phone. Such as: while traveling this automatically increases power to a maximum as the phone repeatedly attempts to connect to a new relay antenna.

10.      When possible, communicate via text messaging rather than making a call, limiting the duration of exposure and the closeness to the body.

11.       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.

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.