WHO: Cell Phones Linked to Brain Cancer, Again

[haunted one]

Some of the comments here are just insane.

If a study says that there is a potential link between intensive cellphone use and brain malfunctions, then WHAT HARM IS THERE IN REDUCING CELL USE? For Tom's sake, just do what you can to reduce cell use. It doesn't really cost you much (except for missed gossip, perhaps) but it can SAVE YOUR LIFE. Then, if in another 5 years they find that there is a strong correlation between cell use and brain tumours, you won't end up feeling like a total dumbass.

 

[haunted one]

[citation][nom]sciggy[/nom]Without reading the details of the report, its hard to say, but how did they analyze the people that never used a cell phone? Simply saying "people who have used cell phones for over ten years" doesn't give much to go on, but I would venture a guess that they were in remote areas and not near large urban populations. The people that used cell phones? Probably in large downtown or metro areas. The importance of this? People living in remote areas are much less likely to come into contact with a varying degree of substances that are "known to cause cancer" in their every day lives. People living in cities are much more likely to come across lead poisoning and other such things.Bottom line of the study: People who use cellphones live in more populous areas and tend to come into contact with lots of things that can cause cancer.[/citation]

You're making assumptions here. I suggest thoroughly reading the entire report before making such assumptions. You might also want to look at how such observational experiments are done. As much as possible is done to control all other variables so I doubt your comment stands.

 

[jisamaniac]

Now is this study only restricted to cell phones or does the brain cancer also affect people who have been using the house phone or pay phones? What makes the cell phone promote brain cancer?

 

[rambo117]

[citation][nom]haunted one[/nom]You're making assumptions here. I suggest thoroughly reading the entire report before making such assumptions. You might also want to look at how such observational experiments are done. As much as possible is done to control all other variables so I doubt your comment stands.[/citation]
he did make good points though. in any experiment, there are variables involved. some people could be more exposed to cancer-causing substances than others. It can't just be caused by over cell phone use, a lot of things can cause cancer..

 

[lashabane]

In ten years, the headlines are going to read: "wireless ear devices, headsets, and other hands-free kits linked to cancer."

 

[Montezuma]

Fuck all of you that were dumb enough to hit me with negatives, just because you are too fucking stupid to think for yourself. I have used a cellular phone for hours a day, every day since 1997 and I have NEVER had ANY negative side effects(save large bills from the cellular company). This "study" is total crap and will probably be shown as such when the findings are released.

Hell, they negate their own study when it is said, ""In the absence of definitive results and in the light of a number of studies which, though limited, suggest a possible effect of radio frequency radiation, precautions are important,"" ...are you kidding me? Does everyone realize that the average human is bombarded with radio frequencies everyday?

I will guarantee you that if these same subjects had been studied without a cellular phone, the results would have been exactly the same. If my girlfriend, who works for a major carrier, were to get cancer, then I would know why: she is genetically predisposed to get cancer. She has a long line of family members who have battled cancer. Chances are, there are many in this study with the same problem, but you will never hear about this.

Of course, healthy people with no history of cancer get cancer. Since humans are always looking for someone to blame, they sent these idiots out to find a culprit. People are just going to have to deal with the fact that people get sick and there is not always a person or thing to point a finger at.

If I thought that the radio frequencies might cause cancer, then I would be the first person to admit that some needs to be done. Until someone comes along to chance science fact, as we know it, then I will not get behind these studies. The WHO, just like other UN bodies, is nothing more than a waste of time and money.

 

[Pyroflea]

So they're unsure about their results, so they draw straws to come to a conclusion.

SCIENCE!

Why would you release a report about a study that wasn't definitive?

 

[haunted one]

[citation][nom]rambo117[/nom]he did make good points though. in any experiment, there are variables involved. some people could be more exposed to cancer-causing substances than others. It can't just be caused by over cell phone use, a lot of things can cause cancer..[/citation]

I agree. But the research was conducted by a big board so they likely tried to control other variables as much as possible. That's not to say that the results are 100% accurate but I wouldn't count too much on other variables.
Any study is carefully conducted and the results need to pass certain calculations before they're accepted as valid.

 

[Pyroflea]

There's no way you could eliminate enough of the variables to even get a definitive result. There's absolutely no way. They could prove that Toast causes cancer just as easily as they could Cell Phones.

 

[the_krasno]

I use skype

 

[Guest]

classic news

 

[zachary k]

ya know, i got a solution that doesn't cost $30 mill and wont get stupid results, fine a hobo or something, strap 10 cell phones that are constantly on, and see how long that takes.

 

[husker]

I have to wonder why cell phones are being singled out. Electromagnetic waves don't care what generated them. Yes there are different frequencies, but the source is irrelevant. Also, even if I don't use a cell I'm surrounded by hundreds of them most of the day - would this be analogous to second hand smoke? This study is not hard science, it is simply looking for a statistical correlation which even if real, does not prove anything.(There are more trees where it rains, therefore trees cause rain) I have no doubt that there are researchers who have been bombarding mice with 10000 times the radio waves of the average iPhone for years. If there was anything even remotely resembling cancer in these mice we'd have heard about it by now.

 

[buwish]

Unfortunately, I've seen first hand what brain cancer can do to a person; it's a horrid way to die. With that said though, a lot of reports that have been published on the subject are usually inconclusive. But you never know...I've always used a bluetooth device (hand free). Yes, they release radiation as well, but much smaller amounts than most cell phones. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[bogcotton]

[citation][nom]jisamaniac[/nom]Now is this study only restricted to cell phones or does the brain cancer also affect people who have been using the house phone or pay phones? What makes the cell phone promote brain cancer?[/citation]

It is the electromagnetic radiation cell phones use to transmit their information wirelessly. Pay phones are usually connection to the telephone grid, so wont do anything, except maybe give you an ear infection or sickness due to how horrendously filthy they are.

Some/ most housephones are wireless now, so they also use radio or microwave frequencies, although of a much lower intensity.

[citation][nom]husker[/nom]I have to wonder why cell phones are being singled out. Electromagnetic waves don't care what generated them. [/citation]

The thing which they focus on is the fact that most people hold it to their head, and as you know, the intensity of the beam is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source.
Like ripples on a pond, if you are floating right next to where the stone dropped in, you will move a lot; if you're at the other end you'll move less.

 

[lordfakie]

Just assuming it were true, The ear device crap is just that crap. You get brain cancer because the cell phone its in ur head, with the ear phone you would get pancreas cancer, testicle cancer or wherever you put your cellphone. So stop it allready.

 

[jerreece]

[citation][nom]nekatreven[/nom]So let me get this straight...they aren't sure if the current cell frequencies (most are a few hundred megahertz from 1ghz) are harmful or not, so their suggestion is to use a wireless headset running in the 2.4 band!? The same frequency range that your microwave uses to boil water!? It's like saying "We're not sure if airbags do more good or bad, so lets just replace them with explosives."...Quick, someone give them another $20mil to figure out that humans have tons of water in them and "wireless ear devices" run 2.4!That is a rather odd comment. This study has nothing to do with radioactive materials and everything to do with radio waves. The wifi and the portable phone in your house can't even transmit down the block, yet cell phones work for miles...you do the math. Low power levels or not, that is some well-penetrating crap.[/citation]

Interestingly enough, I was chatting with a local 911 dispatcher yesterday. She said every now and again they get cell phone calls from out of state to our local 911 center. They can trace back to the local cell tower the call came in on, and yet one call came from Texas (I'm in Montana).

No idea how on earth a cell phone call from Texas bounces off a cell tower in Montana, but she told me it happens sometimes.

 

[WheelsOfConfusion]

[citation][nom]nekatreven[/nom]So let me get this straight...they aren't sure if the current cell frequencies (most are a few hundred megahertz from 1ghz) are harmful or not, so their suggestion is to use a wireless headset running in the 2.4 band!? The same frequency range that your microwave uses to boil water!?[/citation]
Microwave power is usually measured in hundreds to over a thousand watts, and confined inside an area of a square foot or so. Cellphones transmit with about .25 watts, outwards in all directions instead of focused onto a small space. It's pretty much impossible to microwave your tissue with cellphones unless you can, like the inside of a microwave, concentrate all the output of a few thousand of them in one spot right next to your skin. Keep in mind also that the power of the waves drops off with the inverse-square rule, so cellphone signals from a few tens of yards away are already significantly weaker than one right next to you, so it really doesn't matter how many people in your town are using them either.

Low power levels or not, that is some well-penetrating crap.

And it doesn't carry enough power to do anything significant. At most it could heat up the patch of skin on your head about as much as a few square centimeters exposed to sunlight, or basically a tiny part of your face. Even for pasty, transparent-skinned tech geeks like us, that's not really cause for alarm and it isn't going to cook you. ;P

As to studies, there have been decades of studies for this and similar issues that have generally been inconclusive, and in some cases poor design (i.e. lack of blind trials in the Israeli study they mention) can muck up the strength of the conclusions. Cell phones can't cause cancer in the traditional way, because the RF frequencies are not ionizing radiation and so do not break your DNA. From what I'm reading this Telegraph article is based on preliminary conclusions and the study hasn't been analyzed well enough for an official conclusion.

[citation][nom]bogcotton[/nom]It is the electromagnetic radiation cell phones use to transmit their information wirelessly. Pay phones are usually connection to the telephone grid, so wont do anything, except maybe give you an ear infection or sickness due to how horrendously filthy they are. Some/ most housephones are wireless now, so they also use radio or microwave frequencies, although of a much lower intensity.[/citation]
Intensity doesn't matter, really, what matters is frequency. Red light, no matter how intense, will never be ionizing radiation. UV light, no matter how scarce, will always be ionizing.

 

[WheelsOfConfusion]

To clarify what I just wrote a bit, the microwave oven doesn't work by ionizing radiation, it works by water and fat molecules flipping around in the waves to produce friction, which heats the food. So with microwaves, intensity matters because you need to flip the molecules, but that doesn't cause cancer: it causes cooking. Ionizing radiation works by stripping electrons away from the atoms in molecules and breaking their bonds. That isn't cooking, that's damaging your DNA, which leads to cancer.

 

[Guest]

Suppose it doesn't matter anyway, because once youre connected to a tower, its transmitting directly to your phone. I wouldn't be worried whats coming out of your phone so much as whats going in. That affects everyone.