Mobile phones and the affect on our health

The mobile phone has been in use for approximately 20 years. It has completely changed the way we now communicate between one another. From the businessperson who uses the mobile phone as a vital link with the office, to the teenager who has the phone for recreational use. Over recent years, there has been an ongoing debate about mobile phones and what risks they pose upon us. Many people believe that they are damaging our health every time we use them by transmitting microwave radiation which can damage our cells. Others believe that they don’t. There doesn’t appear to be very much hard, clear evidence to support the idea, In this case study I am going to critically analyze information and give my own opinions on the subject matter to see which I think is the strongest point of view. More than 40 million people in Britain are thought to use mobile phones, this means if the evidences shows that mobile phone usage is dangerous to our health it’s quite worrying.

I decided to focus on the point saying it does affect our health first just because I believe there is more evidence to support this point.

Just recently over the past few years scientists have started to investigate into this matter to see if mobile phones are a threat and to see if there radiation can cause damage to cells in our body. Looking at a few sources of information many people believe that mobile phones do cause damage, potentially cancer in some cases. From my own knowledge I know that you won’t get a tumor or cancer just from using a mobile, but talking about the larger, long term affects of using a mobile regularly.

(1) Neil Whitfield, a 49-year-old father of six, developed an acoustic neuroma in 2001 after years of heavy mobile phone use, on the left side of the head, to which he had held his handset. He says he had no family history of the disease and that when he asked a specialist what had caused it, the doctor had asked him if he used a mobile.

This is a example of the extreme case of what can happen. This is what happens to people that use their phones a lot. Stock brokers and people who use mobiles a lot in their profession will have more of an increased chance of getting cancer I believe from evidence I have read but there’s still no solid evidence to support my theory. This is because from reading of the BBC and other websites after many tests it says that people who use their mobile phones most of the day, will have a increased chance of getting a tumor on the side of their head were they hold there mobile. Not only this but leading a few scientists say that having a mobile in your pocket can damage your reproductive organs and cause testicular cancer.

After looking across the web I noticed that its not only the mobile phone that people are worried about, it’s the base stations that transmit the calls and texts that they are starting to be cautious about.

Some people that live near these base stations say that it is making them ill from been in close contact with them and disrupts there sleeping patterns, although there is no evidence for this as I saw it on the television. A base station emits microwave radiation that does have a small affect on our health. Its at the lower end of the Microwave radiation spectrum behind televisions and radios but above the house hold microwave.

(4)(2) Of particular relevance is the way in which this radiation affects brain function – specifically, its electrical activity (EEG), its electro-chemistry, and the blood/ brain barrier - and degrades the immune system. For these established influences are of a kind that are consistent with the nature of adverse health reactions reported both by some users of mobile phones and by some people (involuntarily) subject to long-term exposure to the radiation from Base-stations.

One argument that has arisen with base stations was about building them near schools. Parents and pupils have protested against them been built near their school as they believe there is a health risk to them and would damage there health if they were in close proximity to them for a number of hours a day. Some have been built near schools but many are now been built near railway lines and places were people aren’t surrounding them.

Although there is some evidence to support the theory that the microwave radiation from mobile phones and base stations affects our health, there is also some evidence to show that it really doesn’t affect our health. I am going to be analyzing this side of the argument to see which one I agree with and which I think is the strongest side of the argument.

Over recent years the mobile phone has arisen to an everyday gadget. Many people believe its a health hazard after recent test but others believe its not. The people that don’t believe that it affects our health believe its just an excuse to blame on cancer.

(3) Mobile phones do not pose a health risk, according to one of the biggest studies into their dangers. But this is only in the short term; long-term damage cannot be ruled out. Six years of research by 28 teams, at a cost of £8.8 million, have failed to substantiate any of the health claims made about mobile phones or the masts that broadcast their signals. Professor Challis said that the results so far were “reassuring” – there was no evidence of immediate or short-term damage and no association between use and cancer. He said that experiments on tissue had produced no effects, and the committee responsible for the programme believes that there is no need for further work in this area.

One company called Bio-guard has found a way to tackle this argument in a way by bringing out a product called the biophone. Its simply just a pendant that you clip onto your phone. The biophone has proven to reduce the effects of headaches, ear discomfort, hot ear, nausea, dizziness and lack of concentration as a result of using a mobile or cordless phone.

(5)The Biophone works specifically to neutralise the effects of microwave radiation. Although our bodies are designed to protect themselves from harmful external influences. The Bio Phone has been developed, after much research, to enhance this vital function and effectively helps the body “neutralise” the harmful radiation from mobile and cordless phones. It is essentially made up of inorganic and organic crystals mixed with copper and other elements, which once refined are charged by a specific light source. Its effectiveness will decay within 2-5 years.

Although it seems a good idea and the test shows that it can prevent the harmful radiation for entering your body it’s not the answer to the problem. It is only a possible short term answer and isn’t cheap to run. Many scientists and people still choose to believe that there’s no harm in mobile phone radiation and that this product is just there to steal peoples money.

ConclusionAfter analyzing all the information I have read, looked up and learnt I have believe that mobile phones do affect our health is the stronger side of the argument. By releasing harmful microwave radiation mobile phones are causing very rare cases of cancer. One reason that the evidence isn’t to hard is because mobiles haven’t been around for along time so and the damage is only long term.

I think in the near future when mobiles have been around for a while the affects to them will start to show.

I also think that the biophone is a fantastic idea for the time been and until we know the affects of mobiles phone and base station radiation and how we can protect our self’s in the long term, it is a great solution.

Electromagnetic waves (radiation)Another term for light. Light waves are fluctuations of electric and magnetic fields in space.

Electromagnetic spectrumRadio waves > microwaves > Infrared > Ultraviolet > Gamma