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Contradictory results for hands off phones
Children
absorb more radiation
UK mobile
phone safety limits reviewed
Two minutes too much
Links between mobile
phone use and headaches
Mobile phone microwaves weaken blood brain barrier
Phone
blindness - 2 cases thought to be caused by mobile phones
Increase in rare form of brain cancer
Increasing blood pressure
Sleeping subjects - mobile phones effect sleep
Mobile phone masts safer on roofs than ground
Masts must be less than 15 metres high
Cordless phones also dangerous
Mobile
phone microwave fields cause significant changes in DNA damage
Hands off
A new UK Government-funded study on ‘hands-free’ mobile phones
(i.e. mobiles with a wired ear attachment) contradicts the much publicised
study from The Consumers’ Association (CA) earlier this year. Whereas
the CA’s study found that the ‘hands off style’ tripled
the radiation going into the user’s brain, the new study found that
they cut it by up to 80%. The CA stand by the results of their study,
saying that their measurements focused on one small part of the brain
they considered particularly important whereas the Government-funded study
followed the procedure recommended by the European standards agency Cenlec,
whereby several sites in the head are measured. The CA say that they have
replicated their findings already and have already begun further research.
In an interview with Green Health Watch, Alasdair Philips of Powerwatch
U.K. accepted that the wire connecting the phone to the ear attachment
can act as an aerial and can, occasionally, send a strong electric current
into the user’s ear. He repeats the advice to keep calls down to
under two minutes, and adds that the best overall protection is to ensure
that your mobile is operating at four or less bars strength. He stated
that the safest phones were those made for hands-free operations in cars,
where there was no connecting cable and where the head was a fair distance
from the receiver.
ED.- In-car hands-off telephones may be safest as regards radiation, but
mobile phones of all types have been found to increase the risk of accidents
up to fourfold.
(7281-83) David Derbyshire. Daily Telegraph
8.8.00 p8
At the end of an article describing the growing problems of mobile phones
in schools, the author reports a 1996 study by Om Gandhi, a professor
at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City (US), which found that five
year old children absorb 50% more radiation than adults whilst ten year
olds absorb 10% more.
(6763) Electromagnetic Hazard & VDU
News 1.12.99 p6
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UK safety
limits reviewed
In September 1999 the House of Commons Science & Technology Select Committee assessed the then National Radiological Protection Board's (NRPB) advice on mobile phones and base stations. In the light of all the evidence it received, it recommended that the NRPB's guidance on safe exposure levels (then 10 watts/kilogram in any 10 grams of tissue averaged across six minutes) should be abandoned in favour of the lower guidelines set by the International Committee on Non-ionising Radiation (2 watts/kg). The USA authorities recommend an even lower level (1.6 watts/kg in any 1 gram of tissue - the equivalent of 0.8 watts/kg in any 10gm of tissue). The committee noted that, with regard to mobile phones, the British Medical Association now recommended 'prudent avoidance' and that users should be given more information on protective devices to reduce radiation exposure.
The full report can be accessed on the House of Commons website: www.parliament.uk (look under Select Committees)
(6300-2) Third report - Scientific Advisory System. Mobile Phones & Health.
A study of 12,000 mobile phone users in Sweden and Norway found "a statistically significant association between calling time/number of calls per day and the prevalence of warmth behind/around or on the ear, headaches and fatigue". The mobile phone users studied used their phone less than two minutes or two calls per day. They also found dose/response relationships with concentration, memory loss, fatigue and headache for people who used the phones for over one hour per day total. Original research: Mild et al., National Institute for Working Life, included in as evidence in the Third Report - Scientific Advisory System. Mobile Phones & Health (see above)
(6572) Alasdair Philips. Powerwatch 1.12.99 www.powerwatch.org.uk
The first specific study into
the links between mobile 'phone use and headaches reported as follows:
"Forty respondents from diverse occupations described unpleasant
sensations such as a burning feeling or dull ache mainly occurring in
the side or back of the head, or near the ear. The symptoms often began
minutes after beginning a call, but could come on later in the day. The
symptoms usually ceased within an hour after the call, but could last
until evening. Symptoms did not occur when using an ordinary (telephone),
and were different from ordinary headaches. There were several reports
suggestive of effects inside the skull. 75% of cases were associated with
digital mobile 'phones.
(5149-50) Preliminary Report: symptoms associated with mobile 'phone use. Hocking,B. Occupational Medicine 1998;48:357-60
Most of the stories we have published about the
potential damage to the brain from mobile phone radiation have focused
on the direct effect of radiation on brain cells and brain function. There
is a second way that low level microwave radiation could damage the brain:
by allowing chemicals to pass through the blood brain barrier (BBB). Oddly,
this is a hotly contested issue although:
• Dr. Allan Frey reported BBB leakage when exposed to microwaves as far back as 1974
• US Army researchers confirmed the finding in 1977
• In 1992 Swedish researchers confirmed the effect and suggested that this could possibly lead to Alzheimer's disease or other neurological diseases.
Blood Eye Barrier leakage could also occur, leading to cataracts or blindness. This may be the explanation for the blood clots and corneal ulcers found in the eyes of two Swedish people recently. (See following item).
For more on blood brain barrier see pesticides page
(6092-93) Microwave News 1.11.99 p19
Phone
blindness
Two Swedish men, both extensive mobile 'phone users for many years, have
gone blind in one eye - on the side of the head they use their 'phone.
In one case, symptoms began with intense pain in one eye which was eventually
diagnosed as ulcers on the cornea. When his vision suddenly became blurred
it was discovered he had a blood clot and the eye could not be saved.
The second man was also diagnosed as having a blood clot. There are two
other people in the same town who attribute the loss of sight in one eye
to their mobile 'phone.
(5089) Electromagnetic
Hazard & Therapy 1.11.98 p1
Two new studies have found that using mobile phones has a biological effect, but have not found any increased risk in brain tumours overall comparing phone users and non-users. The biological effect shown was that right-handed users had a higher probability of developing a brain tumour on the right side of the brain, left-handed users on the left. One of the studies (by Joshua Muscat of New York's American Health Foundation), however, did find a two to threefold increase in neuroepithelial tumours - a rare form of brain cancer - although there was no 'dose-response relationship'. Lighter users ran higher risks than heavier users.
(5879-80) Microwave News 1.5.99 p6
German researchers measured blood
pressure and certain heart functions in 10 volunteers with mobile 'phones
strapped to the side of their heads. They detected a 10-15mm Hg average
increase in blood pressure whenever the 'phones were switched on. The
scientists think that the increase in blood pressure probably results
from constriction of the arteries caused by the radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic
fields.
Such an increase could be dangerous
for people who already have high blood pressure.
(5090-91) Electromagnetic Hazard & Therapy 1.11.98 p1I
Sleeping subjects
An elegant study by Drs. Alexander Borbely, Peter Achermann and colleagues at the Neuroscience Center Zurich (Switzerland) demonstrates that the type and strength of electromagnetic radiation produced by mobile phones can affect the brain. The fact that the subjects were asleep throughout the experiment rules out any possibility of 'placebo effect'. 24 men in their early 20s were exposed to an intermittent mobile phone signal whilst asleep - 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off. Every time the signal was first switched on their electro-encephalogram patterns (tracings of the brain's electrical activity) changed, becoming up to 15% stronger in some frequency ranges. The level did not drop immediately the signal was switched off but reduced gradually over the night, suggesting some adaptation mechanism.
It was also noted that the subjects had fractionally less sleep disturbance during the night - 12 minutes awake rather than an average 18 minutes. This reflects other work where chronic insomnia has been treated successfully with radiofrequency radiation.
Ed.- The important point here is that electromagnetic radiation of the sort produced by mobile phones changed the brain's functioning, not whether the change was useful or damaging.
(6089-91) Microwave News 1.11.99 p8
Schools safe, but not city
dwellers
When mobile phone network businesses targeted the roofs of schools, hospitals and churches offering significant sums of money in return for permission to site a phone mast, there was a loud public outcry and accusations of picking on organisations most strapped for cash. It seems instead that these were actions of unconscious benevolence. Instead of the more vulnerable people in society - children and ill people - receiving the highest dose, their position directly under the mast means that they will receive the lowest. The radio signals from the masts are beamed outwards. Very little emanates downwards. Of course, schools, for instance, tend to be near major areas of housing, so these masts represent a major threat to surrounding residents.
The message of campaigners fighting to prevent their erection must simply be slightly modified. A national network of masts for each mobile phone network has become a legal obligation so the erection of many more masts is an inevitability. There is even talk of legislation to force local authorities to accommodate these networks. At least now our growing understanding of microwave radiation enables the erection of masts in the safest places - in rural areas wherever possible. The problem remains for residents of large cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester, for whom there is no escape. Phone masts have a limited range so will inevitably be erected in highly populated areas here. Those who live nearby will be exposed to high levels of microwaves and will run a higher risk of neurological damage and cancers.
(5676-79) Powerwatch 11.11.99
Many mobile phone masts have been erected without applying for full planning permission on the grounds that they are less than 15 metres (49 feet) tall. A new ruling from an inspector at the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions may provide anti-phone mast campaigning groups with the legal grounds to demand that such masts must be dismantled. The new ruling states that both the concrete base on which the mast is erected and the antenna on top must be taken into account when assessing the height. On this basis, Vodaphone has been ordered to remove a mast in Leeds, where the inspector ruled that it also "materially harm(ed) living conditions".
Ed.- For the latest information on over 100 UK opposition groups, ring Clive Hicklin on 01752 362434 (after 6pm).
(6346-47) Charles Clover. Daily Telegraph 14.3.00 p11
Dr. Peter French of St. Vincent's
Hospital, Sydney, Australia writes that he has recently heard of three
cases of lymphoma (lymph cancer) linked to excessive use of cordless telephones.
In the principal case described the primary lesion was on the neck. The
dead woman had used her cordless 'phone up to four hours a day for 2-3
years.
(5095) Electromagnetic
Hazard & Therapy 1.11.98 p11
One health issue around mobile
'phones which has not received much attention is the possible radiation
damage to users' eyes. This is about to change. Canada is considering
removing the exemption it had previously given mobile 'phones and walkie-talkies
from eye radiation safety limits. (It is the only country to have a radiation
standard for the eyes.)
The original work on radiation eye damage was conducted by Henry Kues of John Hopkins University, Laurel, USA. He showed that pulsed signals (like those used by digital 'phones) showed the strongest effects, even at levels as low as 2.6 watts per kilogram (W/kg). When people using anti-glaucoma drugs (for pressure in the eyeball) were exposed the damage to the cornea was hugely magnified, with detectable effects at specific absorption rates as low as 0.26W/kg.
Health Canada are now carrying
out their own research in conjunction with the Eye Institute of Ottawa
University as part of a review of the regulations. Canada's current safety
level is 0.2 W/kg, which Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia claim their 'phones
easily meet. The main problem will be for walkie-talkies which are higher-powered
and tend to be used in front of the face.
(4043-45) Microwave
News 1.9.98 p 1 & 10
A study funded by Motorola has
found that exposure to digital mobile phone microwave fields causes significant
changes in DNA damage. Some exposures worsened damage, some inhibited
it. The really important point is that these changes occurred at thermal
levels of 2-3 microwatts per gram, well below the 400-10,000 uW/gram allowed
under current guidelines. Since publication of these results Motorola
has ceased funding the study.
(5092) Electromagnetic
Hazard & Therapy 1.11.98 p4 Research
paper: DNA damage in Molt T-lymphoblastoid cells exposed to cellular 'phone
radiofrequency fields in vitro.
Bioelectrochem and Bioenergetics 1998;45:13-10.
The frequencies used typically by mobile phones appear to be in one of the more biologically significant bands.
Links between microwaves at these frequencies and headaches have been documented across 20 years. Several studies have established that they can break down the blood-brain barrier (which controls what gets into the brain from the blood). Other experiments have discovered that the dopamine and opiate systems of the brain (part of the brain chemistry) can be affected by these frequencies.
(2159) Powerwatch UK 1.3.97 p4
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