Posted by masseur
take from this BBC article
Mobile phone radiation may damage cells by increasing the forces they exert on each other, scientists have said.
The finding could be the key to claims that mobile phones cause cancer and other health problems.
Swedish physicists looked at the effect of electromagnetic radiation on red blood cells using a mathematical theory, New Scientist reported.
Experts cautioned that the finding was theoretical and said there was no evidence of a danger to health.
There have been suggestions that mobile phones can cause brain tumours and Alzheimer's disease, but research has been inconclusive.
The conventional view has been that radio waves could only damage a cell if they were energetic enough to break chemical bonds or "cook" tissue.
But radiation given off by mobile phone handsets is too weak to do this.
Bo Sernelius at Linkoping University, Sweden, looked at another possibility by modelling the properties of red blood cells.
Water molecules have poles of positive and negative charge which create forces between cells. These forces are normally extremely weak - about a billion-billionth of a newton.
Mathematical
The simplified mathematical model investigated the effect of electromagnetic radiation in the field of 850 megahertz - about the range used by mobile phones - on the blood cells.
The molecules all ended up with their poles aligned in the same direction. The forces between the cells unexpectedly jumped by about 11 orders of magnitude.
If confirmed by experiments, the results could give an exmplanation for tissue damage. Stronger attractive forces between cells might make them clump together or cause blood cells to contract, New Scientist said.
Katie Daniel, deputy editor of the journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, said the finding was important.
"It highlights the idea that electromagnetic radiation might act on cells by affecting the attractive forces between them rather than simply causing heat damage to tissue," she said.
Camelia Gabriel, from King's College London, who is taking part in the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme funded by the Government, said the theory was feasible.
But she said the model was extremely simple and may not apply to larger numbers of cells.
"It needs to be tested experimentally," she said.
Dr Michael Clark at the National Radiological Protection Board said: "You can do anything with numbers. It is very interesting, but I can't get excited about it until somebody measures it."
Studies had not proved there was any danger to health from mobile phones, he said.
"There is no evidence of cancer or anything else. So it is so far, so good. But it is early days," said Dr Clark.
Posted by rdnymllnsktr
Yeesh! When I first saw this post, I thought, "Who in the hell post that cra.................oh, what the heck?!?!? Masseur posted this?" Hm, looking at the article, I see that many of their claims are theoretical, but still, hm. Yeesh.
Posted by BobaFett
Interesting. Thew might be right in some points. But i take the risk. Se, my health is your hands!
Posted by djpowelly
Yes, but I dont have my phone glued to my ear hole 24/7... so im not @ risk????!!!??
Posted by masseur
rdnymllnsktr,
yeah, I'm not saying I go much for all this, but it certainly caught my attention and I thought it might be worth posting for discussion, if only for a laugh
this is my 18th year of using mobiles and I haven't noticed any side effects yet (he said hopefully!)
_________________
...Unless I'm very much mistaken
[ This Message was edited by: masseur on 2004-04-06 20:20 ]
Posted by cezwho
Posted by rdnymllnsktr
Hmmm, I remember this being posted somewhere else, but this is semi-revelant to this post. Will Bluetooth handsfrees "kill" us also? Heh heh. So many radio waves flying around us! Ahhhhhh!!!!
Oh, by the way, this is off the subject, but what's the diff between a handsfree, and a headset?
Posted by Vlammetje
a handsfree would include also carkits as well as headsets me thinks
As for health risks.... well the ever growing amount of cancer patients and tumors certainly suggest many things around us are not doing us any good... phones might be one of them but unfortuanely we all got one and frequently use it..... so we'll just hope for the best
Posted by *Jojo*
@masseur - Nice info! Well how about some reports re: the effects of fones (brain cancer) which has 'no' external antenna ? Thanks !
Posted by bart
some people had a strange feeling when they've had there old (very old phones) in there pockets for months, but it was just more like a vibrating feeling from time to time, which could be caused by the old cellphones high SAR level, but these days cellphones have lower SAR or we just don't feel it because of the big amont of users.
any T28 users that had some things like this?
Posted by kimcheeboi
have you ever seen that part in zoolander when maury's phone rings right at the climax of the movie? He takes his phone out, plugs in a headset, and remarks, "Sorry, I'm afraid of the radiation."
Posted by BobaFett
I smoke, i like to eat spicy and fett foods, i make calls ca 3 hours and browse the net hours long on my mobile etc i feel myself great ;-)
Posted by bart
the only thing dangerous about phones, is when it says nokia, you never know when you can get blow up, or when your phone crashes in an emergency
Posted by boto43
Who knew about harmfull effects of smoking 50 yrs ago ? Who knows maybe we will be suprised about next harmfull activities of ppl in 20,30 yrs. I am afraid everything is matter of business even human health.