The World Health Organization (WHO) has caused a considerable stir with a warning that cellphones may increase the risk of brain tumors. If you are interested, the study below ranks cellphones by the radiation that they emit. My iPhone seems a bit high, but here is the list.
The WHO reports places cellphones in the same category as pesticide DDT and gasoline engine exhaust.
Reports of this kind should worry the industry. If a link is established, the industry could be rocked by massive liability and follow a trajectory similar to the tobacco industry. Here you have knowledge of the long simmering debate but also significant differences between phones on their respective levels of radiation.
The Environmental Working Group list the following as the best phones in terms of their low radiation levels:
1. LG Quantum [AT&T]
2. Casio EXILIM [Verizon Wireless]
3. Sanyo Katana II [Kajeet]
4. Pantech Breeze II (P2000) [AT&T, AT&T GoPhone]
5. Samsung Mesmerize (Galaxy S) [CellularONE, U.S. Cellular]
6. Samsung Fascinate [Verizon Wireless]
7. Samsung SGH-a197 [AT&T GoPhone]
8. Samsung Contour (SCH-R250) [MetroPCS]
9. Samsung Gravity T (SGH-T669) [T-Mobile]
10. Samsung SGH-T249 [T-Mobile]
Source: Baltimore Sun
Gyges –
“Pickles?”
And here I was counting on my butter chip dills to offset my already carcinogic BBQ’d hamburgers.
You just retro-actively ruined my previous weekend.
Thanks.
Meh,
The causality is pretty damn weak. This is not asbestos or cigarettes; this is “we can’t totally rule it out.” I would hold off for the morbidity reports before speculating about a tort pay day. As millions of US citizens are, without their knowledge participating in a Epidemiology study on the subject right now, we should have the results in say … ten years or so? Until then, to be safe, put all your calls on speakerphone.
And by the way you much more likely to die by yacking away on the cell phone while driving. The causality there is iron-clad. Driving whilst yacking is as dangerous as driving while intoxicated. Thus, the chances of getting killed by cancer derived by cellphone radiation are near nil, but the chances of getting aced by the laws of physics as your car wraps around a telephone pole ( caused by your distracted driving due to yammering on the cellphone) are excellent.
One of my favorite clips:
Blouise,
It wasn’t the cigarette that I was trying to snuff….
and Good Morning….
On the same list: Pickles (in general), coffee, carpentry work.
This is the “well, maybe” list. It could be anything from “needs more study” to, “causes cancer in animals, but inadequate evidence about humans.”
Good morning AY … get your nose out of that magazine, snuff out that cig. and get to work!
Hmmmm….and they say cigarettes and alcohol are bad for you…hell…when I was younger….much younger….it was the magazines that I was reading….of course it was the articles I was paying attention to….of course it was…..
I’ve been reading about this since the early 90’s … it’s been 15-20 years since I first recall reading about the dangers of cell phones & brain tumors … certainly there’s an epidemic by now.
puzzling,
How long do you think it would take to get arrested if you showed up at an airport with your own Geiger counters and started using them?
I’m betting less than two minutes.
Prof.,
Having been in the cellphone industry, I can tell you the only thing carriers (in general, not just the one I worked for) are concerned about is how much money they can get out of your pocket. It’s a real caveat emptor kind of business. They’d try to sell you a phone if it came with a pre-grown tumor as long as they could get you locked into a service contract.
At least we can attempt to measure it, unlike the TSA body scanners.