Just how unhealthy is it to use a mobile phone? A leading scientist looks at the research and has some tips on how to avoid the risks.
Devra Davis is a visiting fellow at Harvard University, Founding Director of the Toxicology Board at the US National Academy of Sciences, and author of Disconnect: The truth about cell phone radiation.
"The bottom line is most people do not appreciate a cell phone is a two-way microwave radio, that the signals get twice as far in to the head of a child as an adult, and studies very consistently show long-term heavy use increases the risk of brain cancer," she states.
"Brain cancer is not the whole story," Dr Davis adds, highlighting the work of Australian male health researcher Sir John Aitken that found cell phone radiation damages healthy sperm, work that has been repeated around the world and not refuted by other research, she points out.
Dr Davis reflects that brain cancers didn't show up in post-war Japan until some 40 years after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but notes, "unfortunately, two of your top neurosurgeons, Dr Vini Khurana and Charlie Teo, have issued a report pointing out they believe we are already seeing the tip of the iceberg in that young people are showing up with much higher rates of brain cancer than they did in the past.
"Most recently, leaders of the World Health Organisation study on cell phone radiation have issued a call for precaution," she adds.
What sort of precaution can you exercise though?
"If you look at the fine print with cell phones, it says do not hold on the body, keep it an inch away, [and] if you put it in your pocket [it] can exceed the exposure guideline," Dr Davis reports.
"Nobody reads those warnings and most people put phones against their ears and in their pocket.
"Children are particularly at risk because their skulls are thinner, their brains contain more fluid, and they will live longer to absorb more [radiation] as well."
So, "young children should not be using mobile phones at all," Dr Davis recommends, pointing out that France advises a minimum age of 12 and in Britain it is 16.
As for wireless internet, "you want to keep distance from the origin of the wireless," she says, "that means do not have a router in your bedroom, and if you can turn things off, it's probably a good idea."
Of course, you don't usually have an internet router next to your head, a place you wouldn't keep other microwave devices such as your garage door opener.
So, what are Dr Davis' tips for using our mobile phones?
"Texting is better than talking," she advises, "young women should not keep their phones in their bras... use a headset [or] speaker phone, and do not keep the phone directly on your body."
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