Overuse of cellphones poses health risks

Reginald Alceus
Outlook Staff Writer

Although cellular phones afford their users convenience and a host of sophisticated technological features, they have also been shown to carry some risk. Various studies conducted worldwide have concluded cell phone overuse can cause potential health defects. Whereas this danger has inspired legislation and regional ordinances regulating their use, public awareness to this knowledge may still be lacking.

“There have been scientific studies of adults thus far who have used the phones for more than 500 to 1,000 minutes a month for maybe a period of 10 to 12 years and those studies are showing us doubling and tripling in the risk of brain cancer and eye cancer,” said American Public Health Scientist Dr. George Louis Carlo during a 2007 interview on Campbell Live, TV3 in the United Kingdom.

“When you start talking about a child eight or nine years old beginning use, by the time they’re 19 or 20 years old, they will have used the phone for 10 years and we have no idea what type of risks that’s carrying.” The findings of various scientific institutes regarding the dangers of cell phone use are conflicting. According to studies by the National Cancer Institute, research has not shown a consistent link between cell phone use and cancer

“A large international study (Interphone) published in 2010 found that, overall, cell phone users have no increased risk for two of the most common types of brain tumor, glioma and meningioma,” the National Cancer Institute stated. “For the small proportion of study participants who reported spending the most total time on cell phone calls there was some increased risk of glioma, but the researchers considered this finding inconclusive.”

Alexandra Zissu, who wrote “10 Ways to Limit Health Risks from Cell Phones” for The Daily Green, stated actions such as switching ears and keeping the cell phone as far away from your body as possible, could limit exposure. She also encouraged cell phone users to; communicate more via text messages, keep conversations short, avoid using the phone when the signal is weak and to purchase phones with the lowest specific absorption rate (SAR) which is the measure of the strength of the magnetic field absorbed by the body.

“My cell phone is very important,” said Jay Green, host for the radio station WJXT-97.9. “I run a side business so I got to have it. I used to work in the cell phone industry so I used to hear about the health risks a lot. I think those claims have legitimacy but I think they overplay it. I think there should absolutely be laws that let people know what the risks are and so if we decide to use it, at least we know what the risks are.” Jay admitted he used his cell phone at least 30 times a day and used text messaging even more.

“In a world where a drug cannot be launched without proof that it is safe, where the use of herbs and natural compounds available to all since early Egyptian times are now questioned, their safety subjected to the deepest scrutiny, where a new food cannot be launched without prior approval, the idea that we can use mobile telephones, including masts and introduce WiFi and mobile phones without restrictions around our five-year olds is double standards gone mad,” said Chris Woollams, editor of Integrated Cancer and Oncology News in the August 2009 scientific report “Cell Phones and Brain Tumors-15 Reasons for Concern.”

Cell Phones specifically carry a form of electromagnetic radiation called radiofrequency (RF) energy, or radio waves. The radiation, whose effects on the human body have been under study for many years, is one of the reasons many suspect cell phone use is dangerous, the Institute stated. Another risk has to do with the increase of cell phone users, which, according to the Cellular Communications and Internet Association, has risen to 285 million subscribers in the U.S. alone as of 2009.

“My cell phone is very important to me because I’m down here in school and my family is in North Carolina so it’s very important for me to be able to talk with them, as well as here with friends about school, events, church, etc.,” said Antoinyce Eaton, a third year accounting major attending Florida A&M University. “I have never heard any scientific study that talks about radiation with cell phones. It’s so common, I wouldn’t think it would have any negative side effects.”

Debra Holmes, an African-American studies major at FAMU, noted the other possible dangers associated with mobile usage. Holmes cited how individuals with heart pacemakers are advised to limit or avoid usage of digital cell phones as they can potentially disrupt the device.

“If there is radiation that can cause tumors, that is just like cigarettes and the surgeon general has a label on cigarettes that smoking could cause cancer so it’s the same type of thing,” Eaton said. “I think there should definitely be a precaution against those things so you can have the choice of whether or not you want to use your cell phone just like cigarettes smokers have the option to smoke or not.” In June, San Francisco adopted a city-wide ordinance requiring retailers to post the radiation levels of mobile phones, becoming the first U.S. jurisdiction to act according to the potential link between cancer and mobile phone usage.

“I think it would be very difficult for people to limit their use because people are so dependent on their phones,” Eaton said. “You use it for so many things, especially students like myself because you can be from a thousand miles away and you want to talk to your family and things related to your academics and most people don’t even have house phones these days so if you don’t have a house phone, how are you going to communicate other than your cell phone?”