Cellphone Radiation Fears Emerge Yet Again

Reviving age-old fears linking the usage of mobile phones to the spread of cancer, Dr Ronald B Herberman, director, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, recently released a memo to faculty and staff stating his belief in the harmful effects of cell phone electromagnetic radiation.

Basing his warning on unpublished data and citing a report by an international panel consisting of pathologists, oncologists and public health specialists that consider this radiation to be a potential human health risk, Dr Herberman has included ten pointers in his memo to help reduce these harmful effects.

His primary pointer that urges users to opt for handsets that have a low SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) is where this report has repercussions within the enterprise. With the Blackberry range of devices from RIM having reasonably high SAR ratings across the range of business handsets available, on-the-go executives will have to reconsider the impact of 24x7 connectivity.

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The pointers that Dr Herberman recommends to minimise the harmful effects of the radiation are as follows:
1. Do not allow children to use a cell phone, except for emergencies. The developing organs of a foetus or child are the most likely to be sensitive to any possible effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields.
2. While communicating using your cell phone, try to keep the cell phone away from the body as much as possible. The amplitude of the electromagnetic field is one fourth the strength at a distance of two inches and fifty times lower at three feet. Whenever possible, use the speaker-phone mode or a wireless Bluetooth headset, which has less than 1/100th of the electromagnetic emission of a normal cell phone. Use of a hands-free ear piece attachment may also reduce exposures.
3. Avoid using your cell phone in places, like a bus, where you can passively expose others to your phone’s electromagnetic fields.
4. Avoid carrying your cell phone on your body at all times. Do not keep it near your body at night such as under the pillow or on a bedside table, particularly if pregnant. You can also put it on ‘flight’ or ‘off-line’ mode, which stops electromagnetic emissions.
5. If you must carry your cell phone on you, make sure that the keypad is positioned toward your body and the back is positioned toward the outside so that the transmitted electromagnetic fields move away from your rather than through you.
6. Only use your cell phone to establish contact or for conversations lasting a few minutes, as the biological effects are directly related to the duration of exposure.
For longer conversations, use a land line with a corded phone, not a cordless phone, which uses electromagnetic emitting technology similar to that of cell phones.
7. Switch sides regularly while communicating on your cell phone to spread out your exposure. Before putting your cell phone to the ear, wait until your correspondent has picked up. This limits the power of the electromagnetic field emitted near your ear and the duration of your exposure.
8. Avoid using your cell phone when the signal is weak or when moving at high speed, such as in a car or train, as this automatically increases power to a maximum as the phone repeatedly attempts to connect to a new relay antenna.
9. When possible, communicate via text messaging rather than making a call, limiting the duration of exposure and the proximity to the body.
10. Choose a device with the lowest SAR possible (SAR = Specific Absorption Rate, which is a measure of the strength of the magnetic field absorbed by the body). SAR ratings of contemporary phones by different manufacturers are available by searching for ‘SAR ratings cell phones’ on the Internet.