To many people around the world, the notion that cell phones negatively impact the human body is not an opinion but a fact. Although they do not all agree on the degree of this impact, they all believe that these effects are serious enough for humans to question whether the risks brought on by cell phones are worth the efficiency and connections they allow. Some people such as investigative reporter Christopher Ketcham believe that the effects of cell phones are extremely alarming and dangerous on the body. In his article “Warning: Your Cell Phone May Be Hazardous to Your Health”, Ketcham uses the results of various experiments performed around the world by premier institutions such as the International Agency for Research on Cancer, who proved that cell phones increase people’s risk of developing various tumors (especially brain tumors), senility (which is often caused by brain disorders), and DNA damage to strengthen his argument.
Ketcham mentions that more people, especially in the United States, need to be educated on these effects so that they can decide if and how they are going to change their lifestyle in the hopes of living a healthier life. He especially pushes that the government and electronics industry are to blame for many people’s health issues because they control the information circulating on the results of experiments that prove how mobile devices impact human health. According to Ketcham, scientists like Allan Frey, who found that microwave frequencies (same as that of cell phones) could break the barrier between the brain and circulatory system, and Jerry Phillips who found that they could break DNA strands, were pressured by government agencies not to release their findings to the general public.
|
Other people, like medical physicist Kelly Classic, believe that although no experiment has proved thus far that the radiofrequency radiation emitted by cell phones is ionizing , meaning it is not capable of altering chemical reactions in the body and cause cancer, they can cause tissue heating in the body much like microwaves cause the heating of water molecules in food. Because the body does not have the ability to dispose of this excess of heat, body tissues are damaged. This especially impacts body parts with minimal blood-flow like the eyes and the testes. Although these stakeholders don’t believe that cell phone use can cause cancer, they believe that the negative effects they do have on the body are alarming enough.
Although many believe that cell phones’ effects on the body are minor, they still think that they are significant. Other stakeholders believe that cell phones help spread diseases because of the bacteria found on them. In one of their studies, researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine at Queen Mary, University of London for example found that one out of every six cell phone contains bacteria from fecal matter. Other effects mentioned by these members of society include fatigue and sleep disturbances. This notion is supported by the results of an experiment conducted at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden where young adults between the ages of 20 and 24 were observed. It was found that high cell phone use was associated with increase in sleep disturbances for both men and women. Also, researchers have related cell phone use to vision issues due to eyestrain and swelling of the joints, and people's relative distance from cell phone base stations (which use microwave radio communication to enable phone calls) to headaches and other minor health issues. |