Drowning in a Sea of Microwaves

luciensims writes "The Independent is running an article on another study of the long-term effects of mobile phones. Given how widespread mobile phone use has become, will we even have an adequate control group 50 years from now to gauge what the effects have been?"

Comments

WiFi?

[N8F8]

Do any of these studies include WiFi effects? I just went wireless in the house and the last thing I want to do is cause brain bleeding in my kids. Seriously.

Re:Of course not.

[Ark42]

I know a couple towns with no stoplight, no major cross road, over an hour from any large city, but they have their vary own nextel tower. Nextel and unlimited walkie-talkie is big with farmers, and it shouldn't be hard to imagine why.

Re:Sea of Microwaves

[BrokenHalo]

You might want to read this New Scientist article where (it is claimed that) "Mays Swicord spent 26 years searching for a health effect of radio-frequency radiation. He tried and tried to falsify the notion that this radiation - the kind emitted by mobile phones - has no effect. He failed."

Re:2.4GHz cordless phones and microwave ovens

[vlad_petric]

The difference is that the mobile phone signal is much, much stronger. Using a mobile phone near a radio will give you an idea (and you'll see why their usage is always prohibited on airliners, as oposed to other electronic devices, which are allowed after takeoff)

Re:Control group

[Ryne]

Your comment made me remember a documentary I saw about Douglas Adams. It mentioned how he was a total technology junkie and when he was at some remote island on vacation (not a popular semester resort, but some isolated one, in the pacific I think) he was amazed that he had better reception on his cell phone than he did in England.

So, the question is how many places in the world there are where there are no microwaves at all?

Re:Sea of Microwaves

[MickLinux]

That's no joke. Since a vehicle is rather like a wave box, the microwaves inside public transportation (autobuses, trains) would probably be greater than for a person just holding it up to their ear.

However, having read the article on Google, I would like to preemptively say to those people who work for cell phone companies: THIS IS NOT FUD. When the companies actively squash research to find out whether such a thing is safe, it implies that the companies know ahead of time what the results will be, and that the results will be detrimental.

So before you start saying "FUD FUD FUD" like the last 3-4 articles on cell phones this year, look at the articles that are available on Google news.

Re:Control group

[netsharc]

Unfortunately Eskimos/islander would probably be way too different to city humans, I wager they'd be healthier because they have a better environment and they don't sit in a car/on a chair in front of a computer all day, but instead move a lot, their diet would be different as well.

Re:Control group

[dissy]

An amish friend once told me, he concidered there were (at least) three groups of amish. All this is his opinion, and possibly some of it is corupted from my relaying of it (And it was a few years ago) so keep that in mind.

He said some amish reject all technology, which is usually defined as something they cant put together themselfs and isnt obvious.

I told him that even building a house with 'advanced' features isnt obvious, and he said i was correct, they concidered that a learning experence and they can use it. I came back to tell him that technology in general is a learning experence. He said he knows, and thats why he wasnt part of this group :)

The other group believes in technology and even using it, but feel that technology should be 'under' them, not equal or above.
Computers are generally out, because it appears more often than not that we do more for these machines than they do for us. Not all have that opinion though.
This is the group that may get the opinion that cell phnes are OK. Never a garentee thou.

The last group is those born and raised amish, but decided to change later.

Just like someone that is born and raised catholic and chooses to convert, alot of their life is still governed by how they were raised, and alot of old chatholic things still remain out of habbit.

Personally I think its silly and doesnt make logical sense. My Amish friend aggreed. Thats about all the insight i have on the subject.

Wonder what this will do for workers Comp (US)

[SolemnDragon]

I'm thinking particularly of all those jobs that now issue a company phone as standard equipment, and what would happen if they could be conclusively shown to do harm. Sure, the legislation is attempting to pass asbestos reform, which is aimed not merely at asbestos tort cases, but also at class action suits... With asbestos, the lawsuits went after the companies who made it, and then when those went bankrupt, the companies which used it. It has gotten so out of hand that the suits are going after factories which had buildings in which it was used, but the workers suing didn't work in those, they oworked in plants that had none- and are suing over being scared, ten years into retirement, that they might have been exposed to it.

So what happens when the entire country has a good case that they've been unwillingly (in some cases) exposed to dangerous radiation, and 'deceived' into using a dangerous device? (There's wisdom in the adage that says that if you don't know how dangerous new technology is, a little prudence- how does it go? Oh, right- something about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure...)

Well, it's simple, unfortunately. Since those suits would bankrupt the nation (except for the lawyers), regardless of how justified some of the suits might be, most people are going to find that they

a.) have been banned from suing by 'reformative' legislation,

b.) have already been represented in an 'opt-out' class lawsuit that they may have known nothing about and may not be able to collect from, or can collect a five-dollar coupon from, or

c.) are told by the courts that they had the choice to not use the technology, and vote at a town meeting about whether to put the tower up.

On the other hand, they would still have to change the technology. And does anyone remember the big stir about police officers getting testicular cancer from holding the early radar guns on their lap while they waited at speed traps? while i wouldn't say that anyone 'deserves' to have it, i would say that there are times when illnesses can be a bit... ironic. Like if the tumours from cell phone use tend to take out the speech center...

Cell Phones are Nothing.

[Enonu]

It's my bet that the sun, you know, that big ball in the sky that emits so much radiation that it can heat an entire planet, burn you in less than 30 minutes, and make you go blind if you look at it for too long, has so much more of an effect on our bodies that any longterm study on the dangers of cell phones will prove pointless.

Besides, any type of reasonable fear of cell phone radiation is only logical after you've quit drinking, smoking, lost your extra weight, and started a low stress level lifestyle.

Re:Control group

[budgenator]

the way I understand it what each perish can and cannot do is controled localy by the church Bishop and elders; and yes some Amish perishes have been allowed auto ownership. Each perish also tends to have a few members that push the limits a bit; this alows the perish to see how things tend to be heading and consider alowing or disalowing new things.

The Amish definately dislike hardline phones in the home because the incessent ringing interuptes family life; most Amish with hardline phones keep them in an outhouse! Cell phones are popular with the Amish, a solar charge alows the phone to be charged with out the house being tied to the outside.

Amish tend to disalow things that
1.interfere with family or social interactions
2. tye them to the outside world or make them depend on others especialy if the others are outside the Amish community.

Alsosremember that the Amish embraced a particulary revolutionary technology call crop rotation, this alowed one farmer to grow enough crops to sustain many people which allowed the industrial revolution to occure.