Your cellphone probably isn’t killing you . . .

Your cellphone probably isn’t killing you

By NICKY PHILLIPS – Sydney Morning Herald
Last updated 12:29 22/05/2010

RELAX: Your cellphone isn’t hurting you – probably.

Most children would remember being told that sitting too close to the television would give them square eyes.

Despite this comical myth there have been genuine concerns from scientists and the public about the effect various devices can have on people’s health.

A common concern of the past decade has been the effect things such as mobile phones, microwave ovens, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth devices and baby monitors, which emit electromagnetic radiation, could have on the body.

Yet the executive director of the Australian Centre for Radio Frequency Bioeffects Research, Rodney Croft, said that despite decades of research, there was little evidence to suggest that technology that emits electromagnetic (EM) radiation had a negative affect on the body.

In a study reviewing the average level of electromagnetic radiation given off by various electronic devices, Croft found faulty microwaves emitted the most EM radiation.

But these emissions were only about 10 per cent of the daily limit that was considered safe by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, a government organisation which sets the standards on EM radiation, he said.

”All of these technologies used EM radiation and if there was a notable health impact of one device, it would be relevant to all of them,” he said.

An international study which assessed the link between mobile phone use and brain cancer released this week found that overall, mobile phone users had no increased risk of two of the most common types of brain cancer over non users.

Bernard Stewart, the scientific adviser to Cancer Council Australia, said the results of the decade-long Interphone study were consistent with previous research.

He added that the study found that in patients with glioma – the most common and deadly form of brain cancer – the tumour was likely to be on the same side of the head as the mobile phone was used. ”While this does not prove a link between mobile phones and cancer, it does merit further research.”

This article was found on www.stuff.co.nz