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Editorial
Keeping cell phone dangers in perspective
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Scientists seem determined to find a link between the use of cellular phones and cancer.
The latest are among the working group of 31 scientists from 14 countries that reviewed all the available data and advised the World Health Organization that cell phone use should be classified as "possibly carcinogenic."
The announcement was basically a non-event, placing cellular phones in the same category as DDT, lead, chloroform, pickles, engine exhaust, coffee, sunshine? -- you name it, it's "possibly carcinogenic."
Of course, driving and texting or even talking on a cellular phone is infinitely more dangerous than the exposure to radio waves, and a multitude of other activities are far riskier than calling Grandma on a wireless phone.
It does stand to reason that l0ng-term exposure to low levels of radio waves can affect your body, specifically your brain, but a study published last year, involving 13,000 cell phone users over 10 years, found no clear answer on whether the phones caused brain tumors.
Nothing changes more quickly that mobile technology, and we wonder if the long-term studies took into account the lower level of power modern digital cell phones use compared to the old analog devices.
We know studies haven't taken into effect the biggest change concerning cell phones -- some people rarely use them for calling, negating the effects of pressing the tiny transmitter against their heads.
According to the CTIA, the number of text messages sent per user increased by nearly 50 percent nationwide last year. And, the amount of data used for texting, e-mail messages, streaming video, music and other digital services, has surpassed the amount of voice data used for voice calls since 2009. In fact, the average number of voice minutes per user as fallen over the past two year, according to the CTIA, and the length of the average local call fell from 2.27 minutes in 2008 to 1.81 minutes in 2009.
Teens are leading the trends, of course, with about half of them sending 1,500 text messages a month.
Since they will be using the devices longer than any of us, it's their long-term safety we need to worry about.