Editorial

More conflicting advice about use of your cell phone

Monday, February 5, 2018

Cell phones will give you cancer.

Cell phones won’t give you cancer.

After years of suggestions that radio waves from mobile phones could cause health problems, and studies that indicated otherwise, the state of California put out a guide in December indicating it was good to give your phone some space.

“Although the science is still evolving, some laboratory experiments and human health studies have suggested the possibility that long-term, high use of cell phones may be linked to certain types of cancer and other health effects,” the guide said.

Now scientists and federal regulators say not to worry, despite two government studies that bombarded rats and mice with cellphone radiation found a weak link to some heart tumors.

While earlier studies found little to link cell phones to tumors, the latest found a small increase in an unusual type of heart tumor in male rats that were exposed to super-high doses of cellphone radiation.

Surprisingly, however, the study found that the radiated rats somehow lived longer than the control group that was not radiated.

The lead author of the study says he’s not changing the way he or members of his family use their cell phones.

It would be hard for humans to duplicate the rat study, in which rats and mice were bombarded for nine hours a day for years with a level so high that humans would experience it briefly” if they have a weak cell signal, he said.

Even if radiation isn’t dangerous, there are plenty of other reasons to use hands-free devices or avoid cell phone use altogether, especially for texting, such as while one is driving, walking on a busy street or spending time with friends or loved ones.

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