Cell Phones: Evidence of LONG TERM health damage

EXCERPT:

In her book, Davis encourages people to text more often, to use cell phones
only when the signal quality is good, and to turn off phones if they are
kept at one’s waist. For more tips on cell phone use, you can visit her
website.

“I think for all phones, the safest thing is to have the greatest distance
between your body, your brain and your phone. Use a headpiece, speaker and,
frankly, I think we have to think about using them less.”

————

SHOULD YOU BE SCARED OF YOUR CELL PHONE?
NEW BOOK, ‘DISCONNECT,’ LINKS CELL PHONE RADIATION TO CANCER, MEMORY LOSS,
STERILITY
By Ki Mae Heussner
ABC News
October 15, 2010

http://nhne-pulse.org/new-book-links-cell-phones-to-cancer-memory-loss-steri
lity/

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/scared-cell-phone/story?id=11884481

As you read this story, is your cell phone in your pocket or purse, on your
desk beside you, or even in your hand?

On a planet of 6.8 billion people, about 5 billion use cell phones. But
could radiation from those phones be harmful to your health?

In her new book, “Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the
Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family”
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0525951946/newheavenneweart>, Devra
Davis, an environmental health scientist formerly with the National Academy
of Sciences, says the answer is a resounding yes.

Over the years, scientists and public health officials have explored the
effects of mobile phone radiation on human health. Time and again, they’ve
said that while more research is needed to examine potential long-term
effects, fears of cell phones are mostly unfounded.

The American Cancer Society says most published studies have not found a
link between cell phones and the development of tumors. The Food and Drug
Administration says “the weight of scientific evidence has not linked cell
phones with any health problems.”

‘Disconnect’ Calls Cell Phone Radiation a ‘National Emergency’

But Davis, who says she was once a skeptic herself, argues that compelling
evidence to the contrary exists in research institutions around the world.

“Disconnect” resurrects decades-old studies on the topic and probes new
research to build a case for why cell phone radiation is now a “national
emergency.”

ABCNews.com spoke with Davis about her cell phone “expose.” Here’s an edited
version of our conversation.

…………

You’ve previously written about environmental pollution and public health
impacts (“When Smoke Ran Like Water” and “The Secret History of the War on
Cancer”). Why did you decide to turn your attention to cell phones?

“What I’m really concerned about here and why I wrote this book is because
there’s a lot of really compelling experimental evidence on the effect of
electromagnetic fields on cells. I’m an epidemiologist but I’m also a
toxicologist, so that means I study patterns of disease in animals and
experimental animals with toxicology, as well as in humans.

“But here’s what I know about brain cancer: It can take 40 years before it
develops after exposure starts. And we know that because, after the bombs
fell on Hiroshima, there was no increase in brain cancer 10 years later in
the survivors. There was no increase 20 years later. The increase only
showed up in a statistically significant way after 40 years of exposure.

“And for tobacco and asbestos, we have a similar story — 10 years after
people started to smoke or use asbestos there was no increase in risk of any
significance. However, 20, 30 and 40 years later, there’s a big risk.

“Here’s where it gets really hard and it’s really important, and frankly why
I wrote the book: We are already seeing a doubled risk of brain cancer in
people who have used cell phones heavily for 10 years in the few studies
that have been done. And most of us have not used phones heavily for 10
years.”

Major public health officials say published studies support the safety of
cell phones, but you argue the opposite. What are the most compelling
studies you’ve seen that support the connection between cell phone radiation
and health problems?

“Among the most stunning new findings is evidence that you can cause birth
defects in mice embryos from cell phone radiation. [Researchers at the
University of Athens] looked at fetal development and studied pregnant mice
exposed to smart phones. And they looked at the offspring of the mice and
they found basic defects in their brain structure and skeleton&

“[In one study], they showed significant damage in the exposed mice embryos.
And they showed, for example, mice normally have 13 pairs of ribs and the
exposed mice sometimes had less or their cartilage was ossified, meaning it
was kind of fused. And they showed other defects in the skeleton and head
bone that were associated with the radiation from the smartphone  to 3G
[smartphones].

“Other work that’s been done& has to do with damage to the ovaries and
testes of the fruit fly. The fruit fly, as you may know, has been very well
studied by science and they have shown that the ovaries and testes of a
fruitful can be shriveled up by radiation.”

The wireless industry says that the amount of radiation emitted by cell
phones is very low but then why might they still be harmful to human health?

“It’s not the amount of radiation, it’s the nature of the signal, because,
in fact, these phones are very, very weak. They’re very low-power but it’s
the pulsed, digital nature of the signal that I’m more concerned about.

“It’s kind of like if you take a rubber band and snap it, it doesn’t break
but if you keep snapping it over and over again it will eventually break.
This radiation has very low power but it can still be damaging.”

In her book, Davis says the nature of the signal is especially harmful
because it is constantly searching for a connection with a cell tower.
Exposure is increased in areas of weak reception because the radio signal
has to increase as the phone seeks a connection.

What kinds of health effects does research connect to cell phone radiation?

“I think the impact on fertility and sterility should be way up. There are
probably more than two dozen papers showing that cell phone radiation
affects sperm health. And studies have been done at the Cleveland Clinic,
Australia’s national research center and major research institutions in
Turkey and other places. And they’ve taken samples of sperm from healthy
males and split them in half.

“Sperm naturally will die but the sperm exposed to cell phone radiation dies
faster and don’t swim as well. And this work has been done experimentally
with human sperm but they’ve also done research with animals — exposing
animals at the time when they’re teenagers and showing that the sperm count
of the animals is lower if they were exposed to cell phone radiation as
teenagers.”

Davis also said that in addition to brain illness, memory loss is a serious
issue. In studies with mice, researchers have found that exposure to cell
phones and Wi-Fi impedes the ability of mice to learn and remember.

Russian researchers following groups of children for the past five years
have found that children who use cell phones regularly have difficulties
with learning and behavior, she writes.

Which populations are most vulnerable?

“I think anybody who wants to protect their brain [should be aware]. People
who have Parkinson’s, people recovering from brain injury, such as Iraq
vets, I think they should be especially aware of these issues.”

Given studies that show how cell phone radiation can interfere with bone
growth, she also said it’s critically important for children and teenagers,
whose brains are still developing, to be particularly careful.

What do you recommend people do to protect themselves?

In her book, Davis encourages people to text more often, to use cell phones
only when the signal quality is good, and to turn off phones if they are
kept at one’s waist. For more tips on cell phone use, you can visit her
website:

http://www.environmentalhealthtrust.org/content/cell-phones

“I think for all phones, the safest thing is to have the greatest distance
between your body, your brain and your phone. Use a headpiece, speaker and,
frankly, I think we have to think about using them less.”