February 23, 2005
San Francisco, California, USA
11:57pm I talked to T-Mobile about getting a new cell phone. The phone I use now hurts my head due to it's electromagnetic field. The ladies at T-Mobile acted as if I was the only person to ever say such a thing. Lori and Suzanna both tell me they feel it from their phones too.
SAR Shield a company that sells protection from cell phone radiation says:
What many cell phone users may not know is that cell phones send electromagnetic waves into users' brains. In fact, every cell phone model sold in the United States has a specific measurement of how much microwave energy from the phone can penetrate the brain. Depending on how close the cell phone antenna is to the head, as much as 60 percent of the microwave radiation is absorbed by and actually penetrates the area around the head, some reaching an inch to an inch-and-a-half into the brain.
To see the radiation emitted by your phone see our Cell phone radiation chart
"This is the first generation that has put relatively high-powered transmitters against the head, day after day," says Dr. Ross Adey, who has worked for industry and government for decades studying microwave radiation, and is one of the most respected scientists in the field. Tests conducted by the ABC show 20/20 have found that some of the country's most popular cell phones can - depending on how they're held - exceed the radiation limit. 20/20 reported that government-testing guidelines are so vague that a phone can pass the Federal Communications Commission's requirements when tested in one position and exceed those maximum levels when held in another position.
Experts say it's particularly hard to predict the long-term impact of a product that's just two decades old, especially since most of the 95 million Americans who now have cell phones began using them in the past five years.
A Reuters story on CNN.com states:
The research project, which took four years and which was coordinated by the German research group Verum, studied the effect of radiation on human and animal cells in a laboratory.
After being exposed to electromagnetic fields that are typical for mobile phones, the cells showed a significant increase in single and double-strand DNA breaks. The damage could not always be repaired by the cell. DNA carries the genetic material of an organism and its different cells.
"There was remaining damage for future generation of cells," said project leader Franz Adlkofer.
This means the change had procreated. Mutated cells are seen as a possible cause of cancer.
The radiation used in the study was at levels between a Specific Absorption Rate, or SAR, of between 0.3 and 2 watts per kilogram. Most phones emit radio signals at SAR levels of between 0.5 and 1 W/kg.
SAR is a measure of the rate of radio energy absorption in body tissue, and the SAR limit recommended by the International Commission of Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection is 2 W/kg.
The study also measured other harmful effects on cells.
Because of the lab set-up, the researchers said the study did not prove any health risks. But they added that "the genotoxic and phenotypic effects clearly require further studies ... on animals and human volunteers."
Adlkofer advised against the use of a mobile phone when an alternative fixed line phone was available, and recommended the use of a headset connected to a cell phone whenever possible.
"We don't want to create a panic, but it is good to take precautions," he said, adding that additional research could take another four or five years.
Previous independent studies into the health effects of mobile phone radiation have found it may have some effect on the human body, such as heating up body tissue and causing headaches and nausea, but no study that could be independently repeated has proved that radiation had permanent harmful effects.
None of the world's top six mobile phone vendors could immediately respond to the results of the study.
In a separate announcement in Hong Kong, where consumers tend to spend more time talking on a mobile phone than in Europe, a German company called G-Hanz introduced a new type of mobile phone which it claimed had no harmful radiation, as a result of shorter bursts of the radio signal.
The manual for my cell says:
The exposure standard for wireless mobile phones
employs a unit of measurement known as the
Specific Absorption Rate, or SAR. The SAR limit set
by the FCC is 1.6W/kg *.
Tests for SAR are conducted using standard operating
positions specified by the FCC with the phone
transmitting at its highest certified power level in all
tested frequency bands. Although the SAR is
determined at the highest certified power level, the
actual SAR level of the phone while operation can be
well below the maximum value. This is because the
phone is designed to operate at multiple power levels
so as to use only the power required to reach the
network. In general, the closer you are to a wireless
base station antenna, the lower the power output.
Before a phone model is available for sale to the
public, it must be tested and certified to the FCC that it
does not exceed the limit established by the
government-adopted requirement for safe exposure.
The tests are performed in positions and locations (e.g.,
at the ear and worn on the body) as required by the
FCC for each model. The highest SAR value for this
model phone when tested for use at the ear is
0.982mW/g and when worn on the body, as described in
this user guide, is 1.11mW/g (Body-worn measurements
may differ among phone models, depending upon
available accessories and FCC requirements). While
there may be differences between the SAR levels of
various phones and at various positions, they all meet
the government requirement for safe exposure.
Ligers...?
