Cell Phones and Children
Brain tumors from radiation can take a long time to develop, sometimes greater than 10 to 15 years, according to the American Cancer Society (Mead, 2008). A few studies have investigated the safety of cell phones by evaluating the overall health of individuals who have used cell phones for 10 years or more. Critics express concern that these studies are flawed because a) studies have relied on self-reporting or retrospective in terviewing in determining use; b) radiation exposure varies with different phone models, how the phone is used, and where the phone is used; and c) it is nearly impossible to eliminate exposure to RF from other sources and study only the isolated effects of cell phones (Kohl & Sachdev, 2009).
In sum, studies that do not control for the different variables associated with cell phone use may be unreliable (Kohl & Sachdev, 2009). The evaluation of cancer risk factors is challenging because of cancer's long latency. Some studies of longer-term cell phone use found an increased risk of cancer (Hardell et al., 2009). Designing studies using retrospective billing records that provide independent evaluations of exposure and incorporating data on other key potential risk factors (such as genetics) from questionnaires could markedly advance the effort to evaluate the role of cell phones in causing cancer (Han, Hideyuki, Davis, Nirajan, & Lunsford, 2009).
Dr. Henry Lai, a research professor in the bioengineering de partment at the University of Washington, began studying the effects of radiation in 1980. He found that rats exposed to RF radiation had damaged brain DNA. He maintains a database of 400 scientific papers on possible biological effects of radiation from wireless communications. When categorizing these papers according to funding source, he noted something of concern. Findings from 67% of those not funded by the wireless industry indicated possible biological effects of radiation from cell phone use, but when the funding source was the wireless industry, the percent of studies that linked cell phones and biologic effect was only 28% (Stross, 2010).
Reliability of the Studies
Brain tumors from radiation can take a long time to develop, sometimes greater than 10 to 15 years, according to the American Cancer Society (Mead, 2008). A few studies have investigated the safety of cell phones by evaluating the overall health of individuals who have used cell phones for 10 years or more. Critics express concern that these studies are flawed because a) studies have relied on self-reporting or retrospective in terviewing in determining use; b) radiation exposure varies with different phone models, how the phone is used, and where the phone is used; and c) it is nearly impossible to eliminate exposure to RF from other sources and study only the isolated effects of cell phones (Kohl & Sachdev, 2009).
In sum, studies that do not control for the different variables associated with cell phone use may be unreliable (Kohl & Sachdev, 2009). The evaluation of cancer risk factors is challenging because of cancer's long latency. Some studies of longer-term cell phone use found an increased risk of cancer (Hardell et al., 2009). Designing studies using retrospective billing records that provide independent evaluations of exposure and incorporating data on other key potential risk factors (such as genetics) from questionnaires could markedly advance the effort to evaluate the role of cell phones in causing cancer (Han, Hideyuki, Davis, Nirajan, & Lunsford, 2009).
Dr. Henry Lai, a research professor in the bioengineering de partment at the University of Washington, began studying the effects of radiation in 1980. He found that rats exposed to RF radiation had damaged brain DNA. He maintains a database of 400 scientific papers on possible biological effects of radiation from wireless communications. When categorizing these papers according to funding source, he noted something of concern. Findings from 67% of those not funded by the wireless industry indicated possible biological effects of radiation from cell phone use, but when the funding source was the wireless industry, the percent of studies that linked cell phones and biologic effect was only 28% (Stross, 2010).