Page 119considered safe for workers’ exposure in radio-active areas at Chernobyl—please
think about that).
Children are especially at risk:
Alarming new research indicates that children and teenagers are five times more
likely to get brain cancer if they use cell phones. The study is raising fears that
today’s young people may suffer an epidemic of the disease in later life.
The Swedish research was reported this month at the first international
conference on cell phones and health. It came from a further analysis of data
from one of the biggest studies carried out on the cell phone/cancer link, headed
by Professor Lennart Hardell. Professor Hardell told the conference that “people
who started mobile phone use before the age of 20” had more than five-fold
increase in glioma, a cancer of the glial cells that support the central nervous
system.
The risk to young people from household cordless phones was almost as great.
Cordless phones caused a fourfold increase in risk.
Young cell phone users were also five times more likely to get acoustic
neuromas, disabling tumors of the auditory nerve that often cause deafness.
However, not a single U.S. health agency is warning about the extra risks to
children. Which is ironic, since American kids have the most WiFi gadgets.
But our concern here is cancer.
Evidence is beginning to mount alarmingly that this is a cause of malignant
disease. Already studies have been produced showing significant increases in
problems like leukaemia and brain tumours.
I found a compelling double-blind medical study carried out in India in 2005 and
published in the Indian Journal of Human Genetics [Ghandi, G. “Genetic Damage
in Mobile Phone Users: Some Preliminary Findings,” Indian J Hum Genetics,
2005, 11:99-104.]
The study analyzed micronucleated cell damage in blood and buccal (mouth)
tissues of people who use their cell phone 1- 15 hours a day. The control group
had never used cell phones at any time. DNA samples were coded and scored
blind in strict protocol.