Mobile phone article in WSJ

["Bjorn Cedervall" <bcradsafers@HOTMAIL.COM>]

The article below should be of interest to some Radsafers.



My personal initiative only,



Bjorn Cedervall   bcradsafers@hotmail.com

------------------------------------------

What's the Harm in Cellphone Use?



Definitive answers aren't in. But so far, the evidence suggests cellphones 

are safe

By SHAWN YOUNG



WARNING: Too much talking on your cellphone may encourage you to babble

inanely in public. Or it may give you a stiff neck or a headache from

tilting your head to one side and talking too much.



But can a cellphone give you cancer?



Theodore Schwartz, director of brain-tumor surgery at New York Presbyterian 

Hospital's Weill Cornell Medical Center, gets that question a lot. So Dr. 

Schwartz boned up on the available research. At this point, he says, far 

more studies show no direct link between cellphone usage and cancer than 

those that indicate even indirect cause for concern.



"I have a lot of brain-tumor patients who come in and want to know: 'Was it 

caused by my cellphone?'" says Dr. Schwartz. "The data right now are 

pointing away from any kind of link." Still, it will be years before anyone 

can say definitively whether there's a risk; cellphone technology is 

relatively new and cancer can take many years to develop. Until there are 

multiple, scientifically solid 20-year studies tracking disease patterns 

among people, nobody will be able to say with absolute certainty that 

cellphones are safe, Dr. Schwartz notes. However, he adds, if wireless 

phones were the kind of catastrophic health threat that, say, cigarettes 

are, we would almost certainly know it by now. Animal studies would be 

showing it dramatically, and there'd probably be other health effects 

besides cancer -- just as emphysema and heart disease are other illnesses 

linked to smoking.



X-Ray Vision



The fear of cellphone radiation is partly just guilt by association: When 

most people think of radiation, they think of x-rays and nuclear warheads, 

so it strikes many people as plausible that cellphone radiation could harm 

their brains and possibly even cause cancer.



But radiation is broken into two broad categories called ionizing and

nonionizing. Ionizing radiation, like that from weapons or x-rays, is so 

high-energy that it can alter and damage chemical structures, including 

those in living cells. Nonionizing radiation, which includes the 

radiofrequency energy emitted by cellphones, isn't powerful enough to break 

chemical bonds the way x-rays can. It tends to be absorbed as heat. Heat can 

be damaging or stressful to cells, and much of the research about cellphones 

has attempted to assess the impact of low-level heat from cellphone 

radiation on users.



Some researchers also have looked for effects besides those caused by heat 

-- and for damage other than cancer. A few studies have given researchers 

pause.



A Swedish study, published in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention this 

past summer, found a higher-than-expected incidence of brain tumors among 

heavy users of an older European cellular technology. And other studies have 

indicated that older, analog technologies potentially have more effects than 

the less energy-hungry digital technology that dominates modern networks.



Some other studies have yielded ominous hints that cellphone radiation could 

have indirect effects on DNA, cell reproduction, and the chemical barrier 

that keeps harmful substances in the blood from entering the brain 

willy-nilly, says Henry Lai, a professor of bioengineering at the University



of Washington in Seattle. These effects include, but aren't limited to,

cancer. While not all those tests have been successfully duplicated, Mr. Lai 

says, other tests have seen cells exposed to radiofrequency radiation in 

test tubes develop chemical indications of stress, suggesting that the cells 

were attempting to repair damage. That stress could be a fleeting response 

to heat or an indication of more worrisome damage.



Is that a sign cellphones cause cancer? "It's too early to say," says Mr. 

Lai, "but it's possible it could cause indirect damage" that may lead to 

cancer down the road.



Missing Link



So should you throw out your cellphone right away? The stronger evidence, 

culled from years of studies, is on the side of those who argue that 

cellphones are safe.



Last month, a much-awaited new study failed to replicate a 1997 Australian 

study in mice that had suggested a link between cellphones and cancer in 

animals, says John Moulder, a radiation biologist at Medical College of 

Wisconsin in Milwaukee, who does consulting work on cellphone safety for the 

wireless industry and the government. The older study had been virtually the 

only animal test so far to directly implicate cellphone radiation in cancer, 

he says.



Another study this year showed that some radiation effects may be all in the 

user's mind. The study tested people who claimed they are sensitive enough 

to cellphone radiation to be able to detect it. It found those people 

actually couldn't tell the difference. They were exposed to real cellphones,



and also to what they thought were cellphones, but in fact were dummy

phones. In the end, they reported more symptoms in response to the dummy 

phones than to the real ones.



The radiation that reaches cellphone users in the U.S. is generally far

below levels considered risky by government standards. Phones in the U.S. 

must have a so-called specific absorption rate, or SAR, of 1.6 or below, 

meaning tissue exposed to the radiation will absorb less than 1.6 watts per 

kilogram of weight measured over one gram of tissue. The European standard 

is two watts per kilogram measured over 10 grams of tissue.



An SAR of four per kilogram is considered the level at which harmful effects



from heat may occur, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which 

posts a helpful question-and-answer section on its Web site, www.fda.gov. 

(For more about SARs, see "How Much Radiation Are You Getting?".)



The U.S. standard is "far below any known risk level," says Jo-Anne Basile, 

a spokeswoman for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association 

in Washington, D.C.



While the debate about cellphone radiation continues, millions of people 

have become ever more attached to their phones. The number of U.S. cellphone 

users has grown to an estimated 138 million this year, from about 86 million 

in 1999, according to the CTIA.



Heady Issue



At the same time, worries about cellphone radiation have prompted a surge in 

sales of headsets, which allow users to keep the phone away from their heads 

while they talk.



Using a headset while the phone rests on a table or a seat beside you

significantly reduces radiation exposure, says Mr. Moulder, the radiation  

biologist. Headsets also have been associated with fewer headaches for 

wireless callers, possibly because headsets are more comfortable than 

cramming a tiny phone between your ear and your shoulder. But while a 

headset can reduce the radiation near your head, it can expose another part 

of your body if you're wearing the phone. And even headset users should 

think twice about driving while on the phone -- for reasons that have 

nothing to do with radiation, Mr. Moulder says.



"I'm a firm believer that that's dangerous, having been nearly run off the 

road several times," says Mr. Moulder, who thinks headsets may not be a 

solution.



Some cellphone users, however, say they don't even think about potential 

side effects. "I bought a headset because I was concerned," says Dewey 

Daniel, a pilot for US Airways who lives in Palm City, Fla. "But I never use 

it, so I must not be that worried."



In fact, he is using his cellphone more than ever because long distance is  

included in his service plan, and it has led to a big reduction in his 

traditional long-distance bill.



Matt Dobski, a Boston cellphone user, has a bigger concern: "I worry more 

about the battery life."



--Ms. Young is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal's New York

bureau..



Write to Shawn Young at shawn.young@wsj.com



Updated September 23, 2002



TOO MUCH?



Check Your Phone: How much radiation are you getting from your cellphone?

Check your phone's SAR rating, although in some cases, it can be maddeningly 

hard to find.





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