Mobile phones 'more dangerous than smoking'
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 04. 2.08
So says Dr. Vini Khurana, an Australian neurosurgeon. His recent 15-month critical review of the link between mobile phones and malignant brain tumors concludes that the phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, that people should avoid using them wherever possible, and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take "immediate steps" to reduce exposure to their radiation.
According to the Independent, Dr. Khurana says "there is a significant and increasing body of evidence for a link between mobile phone usage and certain brain tumours". He believes this will be "definitively proven" in the next decade. Read his advisory on a brain surgery website and Medical News Today.
Not surprisingly, the Australian Mobile Operators Association calls the study "a selective discussion of scientific literature by one individual."
See TreeHugger on WiMax on the Brain: Is "WiFi on Steroids" Safe? and Planet Green on how to Reduce Your Risks From Cellphones, Microwaves, Wi-Fi
UPDATE: Reader Stef informs us of posts debunking this story, including one from the very respectable Denialism Blog
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I'm going to have to go with the Australian Mobile Operators Association here... until I see more supporting evidence, their analysis is pretty spot on: this is a "a selective discussion of scientific literature by one individual."
Because, as I remember it, this topic was done to death a few years ago and the general scientific consensus is that cell phones are mostly harmless. Those results don't become invalid as soon as the general public forgets about them and needs something "new" to worry about. So we'll see if something new and insightful was found but for now count me as skeptical.
Anybody remember how tobacco kept smoking decades behind before it became mainstream that it is bad for you? Then we had the same PR fake science think tanks go work against global warming. These think tanks are looking for new projects; possibly they are already at work on cell phones (preemptively, valid problem or not they do not care.)
The UK years ago showed a statistic connection with child tumor rates and increased cell phone use; which caused enough trouble that I'm sure millions were spent to follow up and dismiss it as another meaningless correlation.
Its a repeat of the same old pattern, where those seeking the truth are attacked and are only vindicated if it turns out to be true; they suffer either way and if its false they don't even get vindicated.
Radiation is really the main thing that makes cellphones dangerous although I dont know if we could link it to smoking.
Without a doubt, we will see radiation problems persist here. If ever there will be issues, it will be the emittance of these unseen dangerous radiation each time we use our cellphones.
Ian Betteridge casts rightful doubt on this report:
http://www.technovia.co.uk/2008/03/more-scare-mongering-from-the-ios.html
It's also debunked here:
http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2008/03/cell_phones_and_cancer_real_or.php
Remember that the source is the Independent on Sunday, a paper whose science reporting is downright awful, so bad that I'd strongly question their credibility on any articles even remotely science-related. For instance, how about the dangers of Wi-Fi and "electrosmog"?:
http://www.badscience.net/?p=422
I work on cigarette technology. I am fairly certain that cell phones have nothing close to impact as cigarettes have on human health. Over 4,000 potentially harmful chemicals inhaled in each drag versus EM radiation. Pluss I see som many people using bluetooth head sets, which only less EMR near the brain.
If RF radiation caused that bad of cancers etc., we would probably have seen it in some older telecom workers by now.
The only safe way to use a cell phone is by using a headset that uses Air-Tube technology. For more information visit http://www.rfsafe.com
The only safe way to use a cell phone is by using a headset that uses Air-Tube technology. For more information visit http://www.rfsafe.com
the green thing to do is get two cans and some hemp string..