CELL PHONES: CONVENIENT COMMUNICATOR OR RADIOACTIVE MENACE?
They may be small and easy to use, but could these handy communicators be deadly? Cell phones are obviously one of the biggest and most popular inventions of our time. At the push of a few buttons we can instantly communicate with almost anyone anywhere else in the world. But recent studies are changing some researchers’ opinions. A few feel that there may be a link between frequent cell phone use and health problems. The amount of research is limited of course because of the nature of how the radiation affects the body’s cells over a long period of time, but there have been some tests done providing results that are concerning some researchers. So how do these small devices work, what are recent studies suggesting about them, and if they are hazardous to your health, what alternatives are there to using cell phones?
Cell phones may be small and easy to use, but they are the result of decades of technological advancements. Basically, a cell phone antenna uses low frequency electromagnetic waves to communicate with base station towers, which then relay the signal to another phone or device. The type of radiation emitted at these frequencies isn’t strong enough to break any chemical bonds in your body’s cells, but recent research suggests that there could be other harmful effects. The main reason researchers are concerned is because the antenna of the cell phone concentrates the radiation on a very small area of the head. If this is indeed harmful, then children and some teenagers using cell phones are at highest risk because their skulls are thinner than most adults. This means that it would be easier for the radiation to reach the vulnerable, soft tissue of their head that is easily damaged and contains some of the most important cells in your body.
Unfortunately, we won’t know if this is a serious problem until we begin to see the effects of frequent cell phone use over many years. However,...