Cell phone radiation debate continues

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Cell phone radiation debate continues

February 24th, 2010

Some scientific studies suggest a risk from cumulative exposure to low level radio frequency waves from cell phones and cell towers.

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) opposed locating cell towers on fire stations due to health and safety concerns of radio and microwave radiation.

Already in 2004, the IAFF said it would “oppose sitings at fire stations until it is proven that such sitings are not hazardous to the health of our members”. The FCC which licenses cell phone towers, could not say that they were safe.

Former USA FCC safety regulations for cell tower emissions were 10 000 times more lenient than in some other countries, at 1000 µW/cm2, against 0.1 µW/cm2.

In South Africa, some people have complained and litigated over cell phone towers that were not yet switched on.

In 2004, at the urging of the Oregon Center for Environmental Health, Multnomah County adopted the Precautionary Principle’ “When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.”

An SABS Test House laboratory tested cell phone radiation transmission into sumulated brain cavities in the 1990s, but the results were kept confidential to the funder, a cell phone company.

Activist Mari Anne Gest of the USA city Portland, in Oregon, supports the precautionary principle. She warns that cell phone masts and repeater towers should be sited with care, and not near high density residential or work sites.

“I love wireless. How did we ever live without it? But most new technologies are allowed on the market without adequate study, often paid for by the manufacturers and suppliers. Health effects could remain undiscovered for many years.”

In the USA, as in SA, many cell towers are sited in residential neighborhoods, near schools, and on office blocks.

A documentary titled ‘full signal’ about cellular technology and health, directod by Talal Jabari, a former associate producer for CBS News and 60 Minutes, investigated health effects from the use of cell phones and exposure to cell towers.

The documentary movie concludes with a call to cell users worldwide; “Be kind and courteous and turn off your cell phone.”

Research conclusions

Several studies were conducted in areas where GSM/TDMA 2G technologies were used, note health effects, while the majority of cell phone networks are now based on 3G technologies that radiate considerably less average power, around 3Watt, against the 10Watt of the old GSM common in Europe.

Among the older 2G technologies in areas of 10Watt transmission, are these;

Santini et al, 2002, reported that 530 people living near mobile phone masts reported more symptoms of headache, sleep disturbance, discomfort, irritability, depression, memory loss, and concentration problems the closer they lived to the mast.

Eger et al, 2004, reported threefold increase in the incidence of malignant tumours after 5 years exposure in people living 400 metres from a mobile phone mast.

Wolf and Wolf, 2004, report four-fold increase in the incidence of cancer among residents living near a mobile phone mast for between 3 and 7 years.

Ecolog Institut, 2000, report evidence for increases in immune system damage, central nervous system damage, and reduced cognitive function, and recommend an exposure limit 1000 times lower than current guidelines.

Visitors to a blog by Mari Anne Gest, raise several other points to ponder. When cellphones were just getting popular, the plan was for many more, smaller, towers. Radiation would have been reduced by multiple factors. The phone companies, however, did not want the hassle of buying many smaller footprints, and decided on fewer, larger and more hazardous towers.

Some workers are exposed to very high radiation, like n Navy personnel on ships with active phased array radar.

Non cellular microwave signal towers could transmit up to 100 000 kiloWatt, over a broader spectrum covering some 10MHz of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Research on harm from cell phones is more conclusive than research on cell towers.

Older studies were based on cell phones with few functions, lower frequency of use, and by older people. Youth and proliferation of cell phone uses have increased the risk profile.

Some 50 million USA dollars was spent in lobbying and ‘contributions’ during the drafting of the 1996 USA Telecommunications Act, including a unique pre-emption to challenges based on health concerns.

The electromagnetic spectrum varies by energy. Wavelength, amplitude, ionizing potential, and other descriptive measures of electromagnetic radiation, are all based on aspects of energy. X-ray is not different to microwave rays. Sections of the electromagnetic spectrum are not separate types of energy.

Cell towers are located along with other industrial impacts, which could account for the observed morbidity.

The European Parliament has sweeping resolution on electromagnetid radiation frequencies. They call for keeping cell towers and cell antennas a certain distance from schools, day care centers, retirement homes, and health care facilities.

Several cities and counties in the USA, and the Los Angeles Unified School District, have also passed resolutions on cell tower siting due to health concerns.

Cell phone usage was just hitting its stride around the turn of the millennium, so scientists in 2010 have little more than 10 years of cell phone use to study. People who have only smoked for 10 years, or exposed to asbestos for 10 years, do not have an increased incidence of cancer over the general population, since the health effects take longer to develop.

By 2020 we should have a pretty clear picture of the health risks from cell phones and towers.

Transmission power is not the only parameter of concern, modulation is important, whether the signal is pulsed, ike cell phone signals, or continuous wave, like FM radio. Pulsed signals have been shown to be able to create far greater adverse biological effects at low power than continuous-wave, because of their ability to remove calcium from body cells.

WHO reports that 80% of cell tower studies document increased risk from living near cell towers. Cell towers radiate in downward tilted lighthouse type beams that hit the ground typically 200m to 400m from the tower. Also, cell towers radiate downward side-lobe beams that hit the ground close to the tower.

None of the studies cited address the CDMA modulation system which predominates in North America.

Ask a biologist or biochemist how much energy in the 0.8 to 2.0 GHz band is required to break a carbon bond; 500 000 times more than is found when standing next to a cell tower emitter or a cellphone seeking a new connection, the worst cases for cellphone emission.

The difference between microwaves and ionizing radiation is that we have evolved enzymes to fix the damage caused by UV light and cosmic rays. Microwaves penetrate much deeper into the brain than UV light could get.

Microwaves don’t break chemical bonds but they seem to increase the amount of free radical formation. They also may affect protein folding, according to a paper by Bohr and Bohr, in Physics Review E, 2000.

Visit www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/acai-elite-extreme-review-free-trial-available-1868555.html

PHOTO; Heat scans of a cell phone user’s head, before and after a call.