Cell Phones - A Health Hazard?

Cell Phones have become an integral part of our lives today. It is hard to find a person (who can afford a Cell Phone) without a Cell Phone. We use our Cell Phones day in day out for everything we can do with them. Besides dialing & receiving calls, we use them for “sms”ing, as an alarm clock, as a reminder, to connect to Internet, to listen to music, to click snaps of our loved one and many many more.

While Cell Phones have enriched our lives for sure, it’s being widely debated, whether Cell Phones are posing a health hazard for us! I think, I cannot write a conclusive write-up on this because there are so many facets to this subject (& so many Intellectuals are still debating on this!!! ;D). So I am going to provide you with information that will help us to know more about Cell Phones.

How Cell Phones Work

Cell Phones are like two-way radio sets which transmit & receive encoded data via radio waves. Those are also well-known as Radio Frequency (RF) waves. When one makes a phone call, the voice information is encoded & sent to the Cell Phone Base Station using these radio waves. Similarly the person who answers this call receives this information through radio waves, is decoded & heard. If we visit this page from Wikipedia Radio Frequency we come to know that Cell Phones use the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Frequency Band for communication.

These radio waves are at the core of the controversy about Cell Phone usage safety among many other.

What They Say:

• Dr. George Carlo

Dr. George Carlo, a well-known American public health scientist, says that Humans are affected by the Radio waves emitted by Cell Phone Handsets. He has co-authored a book with Martin Schram describing many ill-effects of Radio waves on Humans, especially children: “Cell Phones: Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age: An Insider's Alarming Discoveries About Cancer And Genetic Damage”

Click the image to know more about Dr. Carlo

Click the image to know more about the book

• Radio Frequency Waves affect parts of our body which have more fluid content.

Since our brain is spongy & literally floats into Cerebrospinal fluid, it is quite prone to these ill-effects and is prone to dangers like Brain Cancer caused by RF waves. But there is no conclusive scientific evidence.

Here are some great informative videos on Cell Phone Health Hazards:
http://www.youtube.com/user/domi1928

• Cell Phones can cause explosions at Petrol/Gas pumps!

Now you are going to find this weird as I found two videos which quite contradict each other.

The first one demonstrates how a Cell Phone can ignite petrol. Here it is...

The second one demonstrates how Cell Phones could not ignite petrol. This one’s hosted by famous Top Gear host Richard Hammond. Here it is...

• Cell Phones may explode if you are in a call while it’s being charged!

Frankly, I could not locate any faithful resource which could ascertain above claim. They also say that one should not keep one’s Cell Phones being charged over-night & should recharge it 2-3 hours only, at a time. No one knows what the truth about this is!!!

Cell Phone “Do”s and “Don’t”s

“Do”s:

Do you want ME to tell you what things you can & should do with your Cell Phone?! :D I think, I should not waste my time on that! You are smart enough to know it all!

“Don’t”s:

*Note: These tips are beneficial to follow if all of it said above proves to be true tomorrow.

• Do not use your Bluetooth headset, which again uses the Radio waves to communicate to your handset, whenever you are going to be in a lengthy conversation over your Cell Phone. Use your hands-free instead.
• Do not put your Cell Phone close to your head when you go to sleep every night for obvious reasons. We are used to use our Cell Phones as alarm clocks & are habituated to put it near our heads when we go to sleep.
  
• Do not use your Cell Phone when you are at a Petrol/Gas pump.
  
• Do not talk over your Cell Phone when it is being charged.
  
• Do not let your children, especially toddlers, speak over Cell Phones for longer duration.
  
• Do not speak over your Cell Phone while driving. (We know this is true!)
  
• Do not put your Cell Phone to ear as soon as you dial a number, wait for a while. When you dial a number, the Cell Phone uses its maximum power to search for the available network to connect the call. This is the time when intense Radio waves are dealing with your handset.
  
• Do not develop habits with your Cell Phone which will harm you. Watch this funny video. ;)

Want to read more? Here are some interesting links:

*Note: YOU decide what to believe…!!!

1. This website says: Cell Phones are safe!
http://www.cellphonesafetyguide.com

2. This website says: Cell Phones are killing us! And provide many gadgets to protect us from ill-effects of Cell Phones.
http://www.rfsafe.com

3. A good write-up.
http://www.goland.org/cellphonehazards

You agree/disagree with all this?! Please comment.