Recent Cell Phone Safety Studies Flawed But You Don't Have to Give Up Your Beloved Mobile Phone! Here are 5 Green Living Tips Your Family Can Easily Use to Avoid Cell Phone Radiation

Contrary to what the media has told you recently, the July study published in Environmental Health Perspectives doesn’t tell consumers that cell phone use is safe.  The study said that, “"Although there remains some uncertainty, the trend in the accumulating evidence is increasingly against the hypothesis that mobile phone use can cause brain tumors in adults." Sounds good right?  Wrong. This conclusion was based on data from a 2010 Interphone Study conducted in 13 countries which is of low quality and flawed. 

In addition to stated conflicts of interest that The Interphone author’s had, last year BusinessWeek.com quoted Dr. Joe Moskowwitz of the University of California at Berkeley as saying that the Interphone study and its conclusions may be "biased".  He pointed out that the study actually indicated that those who used a cell phone at least 1640 hours were at a 40 percent increased risk of a glioma brain tumor.  Dr Moskowitz reviewed eight, high quality studies of cell phones and brain cancer risk and concluded that using mobile phones is correlated with a brain cancer risk.

Dr. Moskowitz found that cell phone use was linked to a 10 to 30 percent elevated risk of brain cancer. The really frightening thing to parents is that the risk was much higher among those who had been using mobile phones for 10 or more years.  It seems our little ones are at risk if they have a lifetime of cell phone use!

"The biggest problem we have is that we know most environmental factors take several decades of exposure before we really see the consequences," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Dig into the research just a little bit and you will see that, to date, there have been countless studies done which seem to contradict one another on the safety of adults using cellular phones. Still, no studies have been completed on the health risks of cell phone use in children and adolescents; although several are ongoing.  Although there is no evidence, as the studies are not complete yet, children may be particularly susceptible to cell phone radiation because of their size and a potential lifetime of exposure.  

Here are 5 green living tips your family can easily use to avoid cell phone radiation:
  1. Remember, the handset only transmits power when it is turned on so keep your phone off as much as possible.
  2. Use "hands-free" devices to keep mobile phones away from the head and body during calls. -  The power falls off rapidly with increasing distance from the handset so this also means the radiofrequency exposure to a user also goes down.  If you use a mobile phone about 30–40 cm (approximately 12 to 16 inches) away from your body (like when texting, on speakerphone, mobile web surfing, or using a “hands free” device), you will have a much lower exposure to radiofrequency than if you held the handset against your head.
  3. Reduce exposure by limiting your number and length of calls.
  4. The more bars, the better! - Using your phone in areas where you get good reception actually decreases exposure as it allows your cell phone to transmit at reduced power.
  5. The use of commercial devices for reducing radiofrequency field exposure has not been shown to be effective so save yourself the money and spend it on a new low radiation cell phone! - Check out the EWG’s (Environmental Working Group) Shopping Guide to Low Radiation Smart Phones.
I don’t think any of us are going to stop using our cell phones, nor do I think we need to.  Yet just as the World Health Organization (WHO) recently classified cell phones as a Category 2B human carcinogen, it is time to take your health, and the health of your family into your own hands.  Especially with your children, who will have a lifetime of exposure to cell phone radiation,  take time to help them learn how to safely use a cell phone.   After all, the lives you are protecting today, will be building our future green tomorrows.
P.S.- I am really glad that you stopped by our Environmental Booty Blog and I hope you have learned or shared a thing or two.  I hope that , now that you've found us,  you won't lose us!  You can "Like" us on our new Facebook fanpage, join our green living online community, subscribe to our posts download our community toolbar or Tweet with me on Twitter to stay in touch!  - Shane

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