Mobile phone mobiles your health away

DeviSri · Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 3

Cellular phones have become inevitable nowadays. With the quicker and rapid communicating advantage, most of the globe’s mob use mobile. This ranges from children to adults worldwide. But it is stunning to know that mobile phones are harmful than imagined. Besides losing sparrows in the environment we are in the verge to lose our marrow cells. To name a few:

• Mobile phone radiation may entertain destructive proteins and toxins into the blood-brain barrier.
• Exposure to rays emitted by mobile handsets can destroy cells in the parts of the brain responsible for memory, movement and learning.
• Heavy use of a mobile phone can damage sperm and a man’s fertility.
• Cell phone is a microwave transmitter, thus causing brain cancer.
• Radio waves emanating from a cell phone may harm body cells and damage DNA.

These are just a few among the many disadvantages of using the mobile phones. That doesn’t mean that we can afford to avoid this inevitable piece. What doctors suggest is to reduce the use to the possible minimal rate. Text messages will suffice at times. Let us avoid unnecessary calls and ‘hanging on’ the phone for a long time.

frankcois · Joined: 27 Feb 2008 Posts: 52

Estimates suggest there are around 1.6 billion mobile phone users throughout the world - and numbers are increasing. Since the use of mobile phone technology is so widespread, medical researchers are concerned that any associated health risks, even small ones, could cause significant public health problems.

Heat is the main concern
Mobile phones communicate with base stations using radiofrequency (RF) radiation. RF radiation at a significant level has a thermal effect, which means it raises body temperature. There are concerns that the low levels of RF radiation emitted by mobile phones could cause health problems such as headaches or brain tumours.

No conclusive evidence
Intensive international research hasn’t found conclusive or convincing evidence that mobile phones are damaging to health in the short or long term. On the other hand, there are still unanswered questions regarding their complete safety. Research is ongoing.

Radiation explained
Radiation is a combination of electrical and magnetic energy that travels through space at the speed of light. It is also referred to as electromagnetic radiation (EMR). Radiation is classified into two broad groups:

* Ionising radiation (IR) - capable of causing characteristic changes in atoms or molecules in the body which can result in tissue damage such as cancer. Examples of IR include x-rays and gamma rays.
* Non-ionising radiation (NIR) - doesn’t cause these characteristic changes, but can prompt molecules to vibrate. This can lead to temperature rises, among other effects. Examples of NIR include ultraviolet radiation in sunlight, visible light, light bulbs, infrared radiation, microwave energy and radiofrequency energy.

Angelica · Joined: 13 Feb 2008 Posts: 60

Mobile phone system explained
The mobile phone system works like a two-way radio and includes the individual handset and the base stations. Base stations have their antennae mounted high off the ground (on a tower or roof) to get the widest coverage. A mobile phone has a radio receiver and a transmitter.

When you make a call, your phone uses radiofrequency (RF) radiation via its antenna to ‘talk’ to a nearby base station. Once the base station has received your signal, your call is routed through the landline phone system.

Mobile phone base stations emit relatively constant levels of RF radiation. The handsets emit levels of RF radiation that vary depending on three things:

* How long you use the phone
* How close you hold the phone to your body
* Whereabouts you are in relation to the base station. If the link to the base station is weak, the handset increases its radiation level to compensate.

The levels of RF radiation from the handset, to which the user’s head is exposed, are around 100 to 1,000 times more intense than exposure from base stations.

Australian mobile phone system regulations
It is estimated that the RF radiation from a mobile phone held against the ear will heat a localised area of the user’s face and, to a lesser extent, the brain by a fraction of a degree. This is less than the heating caused by, for example, exercise. However, high levels of RF radiation overheat body tissues and cause damage.

The Australian exposure limits for RF radiation from mobile phones is set far below the level at which any meaningful heating occurs. All mobile phones in Australia must meet the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) Standard RPS 3.

The location of base stations and the RF radiation output levels from base station antennae are also regulated. There is currently scientific debate on whether or not RF radiation has any other damaging effects apart from raising body temperature - for example, causing changes to cellular membranes. Because there is not enough evidence about any other possible effects apart from heat, the Australian Standard doesn’t include them.