Years ago, after holding a cell phone to my ear for extended periods of time, I noticed that the side of my head that I held the phone on felt irritated.
In fact, my ear and jaw hurt and I started getting mild headaches.
This was back in 2000.
A lawyer friend told me NEVER to hold a cell phone to my ear – unless the conversation was short.
Why?
Because he believed it could lead to cancer. And his good buddy, who died of brain cancer, used to talk all day long with his cell to his ear.
“Look, I can’t prove it,” he said. “They’ll need a couple decades to definitively say for sure, but I feel very strongly that there is a link – and I don’t want to find out my hunch is right when it’s too late.”
Since that day I use my cell phone as a speaker phone. With rare exception, I don’t hold it to my ear. And on the rare occasion when I have held it to my ear for a prolonged private conversation, I definitely feel the difference.
Electromagnetic radiation is a very real thing. And although much is not conclusively proven, there are enough instances of cancer and other health problems that WISDOM says to back off. Make no assumptions about cell phones or cell towers being harmless. Especially when children are involved.
That’s right. Children.
One of the big movements by cell phone companies in America is putting cell towers on campus at grade schools. For a measly nine or ten thousand bucks, principals at your local school will subject hundreds of young children to high powered electromagnetic radiation.
No big deal, they tell you. But when the incidence of head aches, leukemia and so on break out – and they ARE – what can they say AFTER the damage has already been done.
Young children’s brains and skulls are not as fully developed as an adult’s. This means that the child absorbs FAR MORE radiation when using a cell phone – or when going to school in a cell tower zone.
Like smoking, like asbestos, some scientists warn that we don’t have enough evidence. But by the time they’re done collecting evidence, perhaps you’ll wish you’d showed more caution.
Today, there are some scientists who are simultaneously waiving the WARNING flag while saying we need more research.
One such scientist is Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the Univ. of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, who sent a memo to 3,000 faculty and staff saying that children should use cellphones only for emergencies because their brains are still developing. He advised adults to keep cellphones away from the head and use the speaker phone or a wireless headset.
“Although the evidence is still controversial, I am convinced that there are sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some pre-cautionary advice on cellphone use,” he wrote in his memo.
I agree.
Listed below are 10 Precautions for Cell Phone Usage
1. Do not allow children to use cell phones except in an emergency.
2. Put cell phone in speaker and keep away from body as you speak.
3. Don’t use cell phone in places like a bus where you can expose others to radiation.
4. Do not carry your cell phone on your body at all times.
5. Do not keep your cell phone near your body while you sleep.
6. Use a land line for longer conversations.
7. Switch sides if you must hold the cell to your ear to spread out the exposure.
8. Don’t use cell phone when signal is weak or when you’re driving at considerable speed. This increases the radiation to make contact.
9. Use text messaging more.
10. Use cell phones with the lowest SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) ratings, which you can quickly research online.
Without a doubt, cell phones have become a big part of many peoples’ lives.
Use them wisely. Make no assumptions about them being perfectly safe. They’re not.
Matt Furey
P.S. What’s better than using your cell phone to talk to friends? It’s working out with them to the tune of Combat Conditioning – my international best-seller. Find out if you really can TURN FAT INTO MUSCLE.