<p>Today I saw the weirdest thing - a young lady on a bike trying to make a left turn in front of my bus while drinking water and talking to someone on her “hands-free” cell, which she conveniently held next to her ear by shoving the upper part of it under her bike helmet :eek:. I think that girl’s chances of dying from a cellphone-induced brain tumor are much, much lower than her chances of being killed by an incoming bus or car. Yeah, cell phones are hazrdous to your health.</p>
<p>I think I use my cell phone the most in the family, but still far less than most people with cell phones (at least who use them for business). Our son uses his to speak to people a few times a day, but not constantly. He IMs a ton, though, and does email on his iPhone now and I worry about FINGER tumors from all the heat sensitive stuff in the iPhone (laugh at me now, but time will tell). When I use the cell phone at home, I tend to use the speakerphone so it’s not up against my head and have asked that my son do the same, though I don’t think he usually does. I find him a high risk for brain cancer as it is due to his brain being wired differently and my noticing news stories of quite a few high IQ people with brain issues, plus I had an aunt on one side of the family who died of a brain tumor at 5 or 6 and a first cousin on the other side of the family who had a genetic issue that caused a brain aneurysm a few years back. I’m not real wild about his being in front of a computer most waking hours and now also using the iPhone whenever not at a computer.</p>
<p>I do suspect tumors risk can increase in whatever areas the cell phone is near, with the biggest risk being where it is nearest, so I keep mine in my pant pocket at times but on the side where I had a tumor in my ovary last year and that ovary was removed (and I doubt my cell phone having been kept in that side of my pants in past years caused the tumor, but who knows). However, I could still get cancer in the area where the ovary was and so try to keep my cell phone on my desk or in my purse or on my bathroom counter rather than in my pants or on my night table most of the time.</p>
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<p>A local doctor or doctor’s wife (can’t recall which it was) was driving while talking to her mother on the cell phone. She got in an accident and died. Can you imagine her mother’s horror?</p>
<p>I am thinking the woman’s children were also in the car and lived, but am foggy on the details there.</p>
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<p>In that case my D is a lock to get thumb cancer. Last month she talked on her cell phone for a grand total of less than one hour. But she had over 4000 text messages. </p>
<p>So I’m not worried about her getting a brain tumor.</p>
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<p>Not to me. For one thing, our son wouldn’t have had the opportunities he’s had if it weren’t for cell phones, like we wouldn’t have allowed him to travel on business by himself at age 13 if he wasn’t able to easily call us if he ran into trouble and needed help. Ditto his moving out on his own to another state at age 14. And he researches far more topics than he likely would if he had to go to a library to learn the answers. So do I and so does my husband. The iPhone has been a Godsend in my book (or in my iPhone) for finding information as the topic comes up, like the day after we got our iPhones, we were at a 50th anniversary party and the couple was to take an Alaskan cruise in August and was asking how to pack - what the weather would most likely be like. I could quickly look up not just the average temp high and lows in Alaska, but for their particular ports of call and the precip rates, etc. The next day, we were at a party for 13ers (a generation name) and a guy was about to celebrate his 10th anniversary and wondered what the traditional gift for the 10th anniversary is (most people know the 25th is silver and the 50th is gold, but not the 10th) and I was able to look it up and let him know that year 10 is tin traditionally and aluminum for modern times. Granted, this isn’t major “research” for a paper to publish or the like, but man, I love getting answers on the spot.</p>
<p>And where I haven’t taken many photos since digital cameras replaced our film cameras, I am LOVING taking photos with the iPhone as I don’t have to carry around a special camera and can email photos to people instantly and show people photos very easily (replaces the photo viewer my husband gave me for Christmas). We can also look up movies easily when out to dinner and catch more films that we used to when we had to ask a waitress if she could look up the movies for us or go back home to look them up if we didn’t think in advance to check the movie schedule. We can get radar weather while at the ballgame and have a good idea whether the game will be rained out or we should stick around, and on and on.</p>
<p>I have a love/hate relationship with technology, but mostly love it, while also worrying that it does lower productivity (I know it does for keeping my house clean, but not for entertaining, and I think IMing lowers our son’s productivity substantially) and worse could cause tumors and death. But until more definitive answers are in the offing, I will just try to use caution while also using the technology.</p>
<p>As for the thumb cancers, I mentioned earlier that I worry about finger cancers with us now using the iPhone, which doesn’t even have the traditional screen where you can use a stylus to type but has to have WARMTH as it works by sensing heat!</p>
<p>Don’t bother to purchase a headset for college. They won’t use it anyway.</p>
<p>Kenyon College does not allow cell phones to be used, unless in your dorm room. The reason they give is so students/profs will talk to each other while walking on campus. What a refreshing thought.</p>
<p>My D doesn’t talk on the phone much, but the one rule she has is that she never talks on the phone in her dorm room if her roommate is present … she thinks it’s very rude. She’d have to hide in the shadows at Kenyon!</p>
<p>Has anyone seen the video that’s going around on the internet with people aiming 4 cell phones at unpopped popcorn & then calling the phones simultaneously? It’s pretty scary!</p>
<p>Or it would be scary if it were real.</p>
<p>Cell phones do not emit microwaves out their tops and cannot pop corn. You’d have better luck with 4 laser pointers. </p>
<p>Again, if it were a real video. It’s a trick.</p>
<p>“Mythbusters” tried their hardest to cause an explosion from gasoline vapors and a cell phone. No luck. They declared the myth of cell phone use causing fires/explosions while filling your gas tank “busted.”</p>
<p>As a physician, I take seriously the increasing number of research studies finding links between cell phone use and brain tumors.
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<p>With time, we will come to understand more about the potential link between cell phones and brain tumors. I encourage my patients and family members to think about how they use their cell phones and to use them judiciously. Less is more here; decreased exposure may decrease the risk. </p>
<p>Choose cell phones with care. Some cell phones emit more radiation than others. Here is a link to information about the amount of radiation emitted by different cell phone models: [Cell</a> phone radiation chart - CNET reviews](<a href=“Cell phones with the highest radiation levels (pictures) - CNET”>Cell phones with the highest radiation levels (pictures) - CNET)</p>
<p>More</p>
<p>[Cell</a> phone cancer risk debated](<a href=“http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/373306_cellfonoma02.html]Cell”>http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/373306_cellfonoma02.html)</p>
<p>The study in question ^^ is over 10 years old. Cell phones emit much less radiation now. Besides, when we think of “radiation” we think of x-rays. That is ionizing radiation, which is NOT the form emitted by cell phones.</p>
<p>From Howstuffworks:</p>
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<p>Not saying you should sleep with a cell phone next to your head, but it seems that typical use will not cause DNA damage/cancer.</p>
<p>Just one of many things I’ve decided not to worry about. . .</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/science/29tier.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/science/29tier.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin</a></p>