Cell Phones

So there was a report released this week about cell phones being a cause for cancer.  There are three main reasons why people are concerned that cell phones may cause certain types of cancer or other health problems.  Cell phones emit radiofrequency energy, which is a form of radiation that has been under study for many years for its effects on the human body Cell phone use began in Europe in the 1980s but did not come into widespread use in the United States until the 1990s. The technology is constantly evolving. The recent Interphone study is one of the few large studies of the effects of radio frequency energy from cell phones on the human body.

The number of cell phone users has increased rapidly. As of 2009, there were more than 285 million subscribers to cell phone service in the United States, according to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association. They report this to be an increase from 110 million users in 2000 and 208 million users in 2005. Cell phones have also been categorized to be the same level of carcinogen as coffee and pickled vegetables.  So, what are the risks?  Do we stop with the latte, the olives and continue to use phones on the go?  Do we really need to be that connected to what’s going on, that you can’t leave your phone behind?  What happened to the days where you got home and listened to the answering machine?  Is that gone?  More and more people are getting rid of their land lines.  Should this be a concern?  How do we deal with the dangers of something that has become a mainstream part of everyday life?

I would guess either there are changes to the amount of cell phones used.  That less people will carry them or cell phone manufactures will start to head back to the drawing board and begin to design phone that might use safer waves.  I don’t see either option happening really soon but if people want to use phones, have convenience of information on the go and be safe, changes will need to be made.