Can Cell Phones Damage Our Eyes?

Roland Piquepaille writes "I'm sure you've read dozens of stories about how our cell phones could be dangerous to our health, causing brain tumors for example. But so far, there is not a definitive answer. But now, according to IsraCast, a team of Israeli researchers has discovered that the microwave radiation used by our cell phones could destroy our eyes by causing two kinds of damages to our visual system, including an irreversible one. If the researchers are right, and even if you only occasionally use your cell phone, the lenses in your eyes can suffer from microscopic damages that won't heal themselves over time. As this study has not been not done -- yet -- on humans, I guess the controversy can begin and that another scientific team will soon tell us that this study is not correct. In the mean time, read more for other details and references. And whether you think that cell phones can damage our eyes or not, feel free to post your comments below."

Comments

Re:That attitude is pretty stupid

[NormalVisual]

The decay of the radiation is obviously cubic over distance, but where most are held, right next to the eyes and brain, the radiation is quite strong. At certain times such as call initialization it's very strong, strong enough to light batteryless LED accessories popular on some phones.

It's strong enough such that when I have my cell phone within a foot or so of my old-school CRT display, I can tell when it's going to ring several seconds in advance because of the substantial disturbance of the monitor image.

I'm wondering why this is news though - it's been known for decades that RF is *not* good for your eyes and can contribute greatly to cataracts (that's why waveguides generally have all kinds of warnings about not looking into them), so I think a little common sense would probably go a long way here.

Re:Well...

[linzeal]

They work in Canada , but the US has not moved ahead with their graphic warning campaign.

Re:Everybody hurts

[Dun Malg]

The energy of an 802.11b device is the same kind of energy that cooks your food, but on a much smaller scale. This is important considering that we as humans are 98% made of water.

FWIW, it's fairly irrelevant that the human body is 98% water. Microwaves only heat water-- they don't transform it into Horrible Eye Poison or anything. Most of the human body can handle a little microwave heating. It's really only the eyes that can't handle it, essentially cooking like the whites of an egg.