Are cell phones risky? Cell phones are everywhere. There are over
six billion cell phone subscriptions worldwide – nearly one for every man,
woman, and child on the planet. And many people claim they can no longer
live without them. But are they safe? Is it possible that something so near
and dear to us could be risky? And if so, what kind of risk would it
be? For starters, Most cell phones these days use lithium-
ion batteries, which, as a previous Risk Bites explored, can present a fire risk if
you abuse them. But so long as you don't treat your
phone like a racketball, you're probably okay. Then there's the non-ionizing radiation. Like other wireless electronic
appliances, cell phones use high-frequency radio
waves to do their thing. These radio waves allow the phone to
communicate with satellites, computers, and other phones, which in turn allow us
to communicate with each other.
What makes cell phones different from
other wireless appliances is that we have a habit of holding them next to
our heads. So it's perhaps not surprising that researchers have asked if there is any
risk associated with extended exposure to cell phone radiation. To put it bluntly, they want to know:
can cell phones give you brain cancer? Researchers in the United States, Sweden,
Denmark, Switzerland, the UK, and other countries have been looking into the
question since cell phones first hit the market in the nineteen eighties. For years, they have tracked cases of phone
usage and brain cancer across time and geography. After decades of research and massive
studies using hundreds of thousands of people from multiple countries, the
answer is a resounding: probably not. In two thousand and eleven, the World Health Organization pulled
together a group of experts from around the world to review the available data on
cell phone radio waves and cancer. Their conclusion? The vast majority of evidence shows no
increase risk associated with cell phone use.
However, a slender few reports did find a
slight association between cell phone use and cancer. So, the WHO, being a cautious body,
declared cell phone radio wave emissions to be possible human carcinogen. What does this mean? Simply that the isn't enough evidence to
be sure either way – we can't say that cell phones are unsafe. But we can't say that cell phones are one
hundred-percent entirely safe yet either. That may sound scary, but before you cancel
your phone subscription, consider that this category of possible carcinogens
also includes coffee and pickled vegetables. Surprisingly, the best studied risk associated with
cell phones comes not from the phone itself, but from the distraction it
causes to drivers We'll dive into that another time.
But until then, don't forget to subscribe and stay safe. And whatever you do, don't watch Risk
Bites while driving!.
