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The Connection Between
Cell Phones and Cancer

March 26, 2005 – Last week, a federal appeals court in Maryland reinstated five class-action lawsuits claiming that the cell phone industry has failed to protect consumers from unsafe levels of radiation.


Experts Revive Debate
Over Cell Phones and Cancer

June 3, 2008, New York Times

       What do brain surgeons know about cell phone safety that the rest of us don’t? Last week, three prominent neurosurgeons told the CNN interviewer Larry King that they did not hold cell phones next to their ears. “I think the safe practice,” said Dr. Keith Black, a surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, “is to use an earpiece so you keep the microwave antenna away from your brain.” Dr. Vini Khurana, an associate professor of neurosurgery at the Australian National University who is an outspoken critic of cell phones, said: “I use it on the speaker-phone mode. I do not hold it to my ear.” And CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon at Emory University Hospital, said that like Dr. Black he used an earpiece.
In recent studies that suggest a risk, ... tumors tend to occur on the same side of the head where the patient typically holds the phone. The most important of these studies is called Interphone, a vast research effort in 13 countries, including Canada, Israel and several in Europe. Some of the research suggests a link between cell phone use and three types of tumors: glioma; cancer of the parotid, a salivary gland near the ear; and acoustic neuroma, a tumor that essentially occurs where the ear meets the brain. Last year, The American Journal of Epidemiology published data from Israel finding a 58 percent higher risk of parotid gland tumors among heavy cell phone users. Also last year, a Swedish analysis of 16 studies in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine showed a doubling of risk for acoustic neuroma and glioma after 10 years of heavy cell phone use.


A 2008 study published in New Scientist revealed that cell phone radiation causes human cell proteins to improperly express themselves. Similar studies also found that the radiation damages living DNA, creates leakages in the blood-brain barrier, and increases estrogen and adrenaline levels, disrupting hormone balance.

According to one statistic from a 2008 study, adults who use a cell phone over the course of a decade increase their chances of developing brain cancer by 40 percent. Even worse, a Swedish study found that people who start using a cell phone before the age of 20 increase their risk of developing a brain tumor by 500 percent!


See my newsletter's most recent article on this issue which includes a video that addresses the latest report from the World Health Organization, which has now reversed its previous position.


Cell Phones and Cancer
You Don't Deserve Brain Cancer - You Deserve Facts!
by Amy Worthington, April 2002, Idaho Observer

Your cell phone is a microwave transmitter and it should bear a cancer warning! Microwave energy oscillates at millions to billions of cycles per second. The Journal of Cellular Biochemistry reports that these frequencies cause cancer and other diseases by interfering with cellular DNA and its repair mechanisms. Microwave promotes rapid cell aging. Italian scientists have recently demonstrated that cell phone radiation makes cancerous cells grow aggressively. Cordless phones marked 900 megahertz or 2.4 gigahertz emit the same dangerous microwave radiation as cell phones although the signal is not as strong.

The connection between microwave exposure and cancer has been documented for years. During the Cold War, the Soviets irradiated the U.S. embassy in Moscow, Russia, with low level, twin-beam microwave radiation. Two successive ambassadors developed leukemia. Other staffers also developed cancer, or their blood showed DNA damage, which precedes cancer. Research by University of Washington professor Dr. Henry Lai shows brain cells are clearly damaged by microwave levels far below the U.S. government's "safety" guidelines. Dr. Lai notes that even tiny doses of radiofrequency can cause cumulative damage - damage over time. He warns that public exposure to radiation from wireless transmitters "should be limited to a minimum."

Motorola advises consumers to avoid pointing a cellular antenna toward exposed parts of the body. How ridiculous - these antennas radiate in an omnidirectional pattern. And independent tests show that cell phones can also leak huge amounts of radiation from the keypad and mouthpiece. This radiation deeply penetrates brain, ear and eye tissues, which are especially susceptible to microwave damage. Wearing a cell phone on your belt via a belt clip allows cell phones to deliver radiation to the liver or kidney areas when a wired, hands-free earpiece is used. Recent studies confirm that microwaves from cell phones and the newer cordless phones can:

* Cause headaches and induce extreme fatigue
* Cause memory loss and mental confusion
* Precipitate cataracts, retina damage and eye cancer
* Create burning sensation and rash on the skin
* Damage nerves in the scalp
* Induce ringing in the ears, impair sense of smell
* Create joint pain, muscle spasms, and tremors
* Cause digestive problems and raise "bad" cholesterol levels
* Alter the brain's electrical activity during sleep
* "Open" the blood-brain barrier to viruses and toxins
* Cause blood cells to leak hemoglobin
* Reduce the number and efficiency of white blood cells
* Stimulate asthma by producing histamine in mast cells
* Stress the endocrine system, especially pancreas, thyroid, ovaries,
   and testes

In 1993, the telecom industry committed $25 million dollars for a series of research projects designed to prove that cell phones are safe. The studies proved just the opposite! They proved that federal microwave exposure standards are dangerously inadequate. Cell damage and tumors can be easily induced in the lab at about one third of the FCC's exposure guidelines. The telecom boys panicked. They and their lackey politicians and federal regulators decided the only lucrative thing to do was to LIE and DENY. Despite damning evidence, the FDA still fibs: "There is no reason to conclude that there are health risks posed by cell phones to consumers." Meantime, the telecom industry has been pressing to INCREASE BY MORE THAN TEN TIMES the allowable human exposure to cell phone radiation!

Luckily, Dr. George Carlo headed up the industry's study project. He presents the shocking facts in his book, Cell Phones: Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age: An Insider's Alarming Discoveries About Cancer and Genetic Damage (Carroll and Graf, 2001). A summary of Dr. Carlo's book is this: Cell phones are hot. Adequate protective regulations are naught, and Americans are being "fried" so that the deceitful telecom industry can rake it in! It's dirty business as usual, and the longer the industry can con the public, the more billions it collects.

On June 16, 2002, CBS aired a Sixty Minutes segment which confirmed the telecom industry is about as grungy as it gets. CBS producers accused major phone service providers of cheating, scamming, forging signatures, switching phone service without permission and lying about charges. The attorney general of Connecticut stated that despite millions of dollars in fines each year, these companies remain incorrigible. Should we be trusting this industry with our brain tissue and our very lives? Microwaves to the head are extremely hazardous to children. Parents in some European nations are now warned to keep children away from cell phones. A University of Utah researcher found the younger the child, the more radiation is absorbed by the brain. Spanish researchers have shown that cell phones can alter electrical activity of a child's brain for hours, causing drastic mood changes and possible behavior and learning disabilities. Scientists fear that cell phone radiation could damage human embryos. Pregnant women are advised to be very wary.

A cell phone must greatly increase its power output to maintain communications while inside the metallic cage of an automobile. Thus, the effect of microwave radiation inside a vehicle is especially intense. Volkswagen of Europe has warned that cell phone usage inside a car can be "injurious to health due to the extremely high electromagnetic fields generated." A good reason to get a hands-free car kit that includes an antenna mounted outside the car.

Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority reports that one hour of exposure to mobile phone radiation can cause human cells to shrink. Researchers believe this is due to increased protein activity, an indicator of cell damage.

Brain cancer rates in the USA have increased by 25% since 1975. In 2001, 185,000 Americans were diagnosed with some form of brain cancer. A stage four brain tumor can grow from the size of a grape to tennis ball size in just four months. Brain tumors are almost always fatal, and most people die within 6-12 months after diagnosis. On April 7, 2002, Sixty Minutes aired a fascinating report on brain cancer, explaining that scientists are unsure why the incidence of the disease is growing so exponentially. Ironically, the segment was followed by a Sprint ad, which advised parents that the best way to keep track of teenagers is to connect them to a cell phone! While researchers say that radical damage to the brain can occur within the first few minutes of conversation, telecom ads encourage customers to spend many hours on the phone each month; even making a cell phone your only phone. Those blazing, full-page cell phone ads in newspapers and magazines must be the reason cell phone health hazards are almost never discussed in the mainstream media.

An excellent resource tool is Robert Kane's book "Cellular Telephone Russian Roulette" (Vantage Press, 2001). As a telecommunications expert, Kane presents an impressive collection of studies showing that both government agencies and cell phone manufacturers KNEW YEARS AGO that cell phone radiation at present exposure levels is dangerous to human health. He notes that cell phones would be rendered useless if their RF emissions were reduced to safe levels.

Reports of illness from heavy cell phone usage, and from living or working close to powerful RF transmitters, are synchronous with numerous cancer-related lawsuits now being filed against the cell phone industry. The insurance industry sees big trouble ahead. Underwriters for Lloyd's of London refuse to insure phone manufacturers against damage to users' health. Cell phones are today what tobacco was 40 years ago. While research and debate continues, cell phone users have three basic choices:

1. Continue heavy microwave bombardment of brain tissues until disastrous health effects become obvious and irreversible.

2. Reduce cell phone usage to under 2-3 minutes per day if you're not doing #3 or #4 below, and never use the phone in a vehicle unless as part of a hands-free car kit with an antenna on the roof.

3. Obtain a cell phone that has a built-in speaker phone. This allows you to keep the phone away from your body when conversing. Yes, everyone in the room will be able to hear both sides of the conversation, but less privacy sure beats brain fog, blindness, and cancer!

4. Use an earpiece or a BlueTooth device, but keep the phone itself away from your body during the conversation... don't clip the phone to your belt while talking.

Excellent web sites offering up-to-date scientific data on microwave and other radiation issues are:


E-mail guru@emfguru.org and ask for free updates on important radiation issues and studies. Dr. Lai's e-mail address is hlai@washington.edu

Powerful microwave energy directed at homes, offices, and schools can flow right through windows and walls. Microwave meters and mitigation devices are available at: lessemf@lessemf.com and www.trifield.com. A specialized RF meter (in the $300 range) is useful for avoiding environmental exposure, and for keeping the interior of your home safe. Turn your microwave meter on when you drive, and you will discover that from coast to coast, Americans are being bombarded with communications radiation in the microwave spectrum, just like those unfortunate embassy workers in Moscow who ended up so very sick. America is having a real "blast" so to speak! And it is going to get worse as wireless technologies broaden.

It is in everyone's best interest to share the above information with the uninformed. Some people appear to have an almost pathological emotional attachment to their cell phones. We can't save those who would rather die than switch. But ethics compelled us to ensure that all reasonable people have access to the basic scientific facts.




Helpful Suggestions from Health 101:

* Get a cell phone that has a speakerphone built in, that way you needn't hold the phone to your head.

* Use an earpiece or BlueTooth device, but don't wear the phone on your body while talking; use a piece of string to make a strap so you can carry the phone while talking without holding it in your hand, or simply lay it on a table away from you if you're sitting. Next to using a speakerphone, this is the safest way to use a cell phone. (And anyone who tells you that the RF waves travel up the earpiece cord to your head, so you might as well use the phone without the earpiece, does not know what they are talking about. And Blue Tooth devices emit an extremely low amount of power, less than even a cordless phone, and their frequency is lower than that of the cell phone itself, so no worries there.)

* In a car, use a "car kit" that has an external antenna. Even if you buy a magnetic mount antenna yourself, and use a cell phone that has a speaker phone, or buy a speakerphone add-on device, this is WAY safer than using a cell phone inside a car. The metal body of the car reflects the RF waves, bouncing them around the interior and exposing you to more RF energy than if you were outside your car, especially considering that when a cell phone is in a car, it pumps out more wattage during your call.

* Please don't be fooled into thinking that attaching a ceramic, stone, or other gizmo to the phone will lessen its damaging effects. These "devices" belong in the category of snake oil because they don't work. (See "Let the Buyer Beware".)

Additional reading:

Your Cell Phone May Be Hazardous to Your Health

Cell Phone Radiation Changes Brain Metabolism

Cell Phones: Friend or Foe, or Both

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