The use of cell phones has taken the world by storm. From the old to the very young is using cell phones. Many households are without a home phone entirely because the cellular has taken its place. People use cell phones so much that the device has taken on a life of its own. Television networks, movie studios, music industry, and giant internet companies have all capitalized on the cellular telephone to further their objectives.
A few years ago, a mass of mobile program developers were hired by many companies to build the next generation of mobile phones that would interact with the internet. We are now seeing this come to pass with the high level of performance of today’s wireless mobile units. We can say then that the cell phone is here to stay or is it?
Most would argue that the mobile phone is here to stay but at what cost to our health. Yes, the cellular phone is suitable; that is why we use it. We use the cellular telephone so much that it is causing motor vehicle accidents left and right. That is one of the ways it is affecting our health, negatively of course. Anyone can attest to seeing someone driving while blabbing on the phone; most of the times these drivers are so involved with their conversations that they don’t even know what’s going on around them, in regards to the road and traffic.
It is not rare to see a near-miss and a cell phone talker being at the helm of one of the vehicles. A rule of thumb is to always lookout for drivers on their phones. Make sure the horn works on the vehicle being driven because it may be needed at moment’s notice. Accidents are common among people who talk on their phones and drive at the same time, but is this the only threat cell phone use pose on human health? No! Not according to a National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) study.
Some in the scientific community say cell phone use pose a great risk to human health because it emits energy in the form of radiofrequency (RF) energy, which has the potential of causing cancer. In fact, no one knows for sure how much energy is completely safe for the human body. The wireless variety is a fairly new technology, so radiation from cellular telephone’s effect on the human body has not yet been extensively studied, (NCI). There simply hasn’t been enough time to see long-term effects of cell phone use—not enough data available.
Why is all the fuss about cell phone use and brain cancer? Well, the answers are here. According to the NCI, cellular telephones emit radiofrequency (RF) energy, which is another name used for radio waves. Exposure to high levels of RF energy causes heating of body tissues, ever wondered why your cell phone becomes hot against the ear when talking for an extended period, enough said! According to the NCI study, the RF energy produced from cellular telephones is too low to cause significant tissue heating and tissue damage.
Studies are currently being conducted of tumors of the brain and central nervous system and other site of the head and neck because the side of the head is where people place their cell phones when speaking. Cell phones are held next to the head when being used. At the moment though, studies have not shown any regular link between cellular telephone use and cancer. Additional research is needed before firm confirmation can be made, (NCI).
A cellular telephone user is exposed to RF energy through the phone’s antenna. The fact that the antenna of a hand-held cellular telephone is in the handset, it will most likely affect the brain and consequently the nervous system because it is held against the head. So, the closer the antenna is to the head, the greater the danger of RF exposure. Therefore, a person will absorb less RF energy when the cellular unit’s antenna is at a significant distance away from the user, (NCI).
An important point is that the amount of RF energy increases the farther away the communication tower or base is from the cell phone and its user. In other words, the cell phone has to increase its RF energy output when the main tower is far away; thus, introducing a higher degree of radiofrequency radiation to the user. So, the closer the tower to the cellular phone, the less energy is generated by the phone, and therefore, the less energy the cell phone user will be exposed to. This raises an important question. How can a person avoid dealing with cell phone towers that are too far apart?
One should not be a penny wise and a pound foolish. In general, the cheaper the cell phone plans and services of a new and less establish cell phone company are the lower the overall quality of the service is going to be, in regards to drop calls and such. This means that the towers are going to be farther apart. When the towers are farther apart, the amount of RF energy that will be required to maintain a connection will be massively high. All this high degree of radiation will be transmitted directly into the user’s body, especially if the wireless device is held close to the body, such as the head.
It cost cell phone companies millions of dollars to put up communication towers. So, if a company is going to always offer half price of the going rates of cell phone services, this company will not have the revenue to build many communication towers; thus, the towers that such companies will have will be severely less than that of companies with habitually high levels of cellular telephone services and whom have been around for a long time.
A person will therefore be exposed to more RF radiation with phones from less well-known companies rather than phones with more well known companies because less well-known companies will not have the capital to build many towers as does the more establish and major companies. Yes, the company may be able to offer great cell phone plans and deals; however, the rate of energy exposure will be much higher. One doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist to see the idea! Therefore, the more popular a less well-known cellular telephone company becomes, the more communication towers it will have and the higher its cellular phone plans will become!
There are more factors that determine how much RF energy a cellular telephone user experiences. Some of these are: number of calls; duration of calls; amount of cell phone traffic; the size of the cell phone unit itself; and the extended distance of the unit’s antenna, (NCI). In fact, many people speak on the cell phone for very long periods and this definitely is not a good practice. It is best to keep cell phone calls to a minimum. A cell phone should only be used carefully.
How about the long term effect of cell phone use on children and teens? Researchers at the NCI conducted a study to see if children would be more at risk for brain cancers by using cell phones. Persons 18 years and older were used in the study. The study found that there were no possible risks among children who used cell phones. In fact, very few children used cell phone prior to the date of the study. Therefore, there are no data concerning possible risk. Nevertheless, there was concern that certain agents such as ionizing radiation and other chemicals pose great risks in children because they can affect the developing brain and nervous system. However, the study found that the radiation emitted by cell phones has not been demonstrated to cause brain cancers in humans of any age at this present time. More studies are still needed to fully rule out the possibility of cell phone induced cancers.
The bottom line is that cell phones should be used sparingly because no one knows for sure if they cause cancers in humans. A rule of thumb is to always use a head set or put the cell phone on speaker when speaking, and keep it away from the body at all times when it is turned on. It is always better to be safe than sorry!
In summary, cellular telephone is a great tool for communication. However, it poses great risks to our health—accidents and brain cancers. Accidents have increased dramatically as a result of people talking on their cellular phones and driving. Although, there is no solid sustain to support the claim that cell phones cause cancers, one should still be cautious when using this mode of communication. After all, cellular telephones do emit radiofrequency (RF) energy, a form of energy that heats up body tissues, which can be harmful at very high levels. Children could also be at great risks for brain cancers from exposure to the radiation emitted by cell phones because certain radiations do cause cancers of the brain and nervous system in children. However, at the present time, there is no evidence to support that cellular telephones cause cancers in children of any age. One should proceed with caution though because although there isn’t any evidence as yet, there could be some in the future. Therefore, to completely rule out such idea more research is needed. The cellular phone technology is very new at this time; therefore, there isn’t enough data available to conduct a definite study! The rule of thumb is to use cell phones with extreme caution by limiting the length of time one spends speaking on them. One should use speaker or a hands free device when speaking on cellular phones to limit the amount of (RF) energy being introduced to the body.
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