The best Swedish site for news on technology, in my opinion, is www.idg.se. Today they have an article on radiation in the home. The article is based on an interview with Maria Feychting professor in epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet. The article discusses the danger of the radiation associated with products that are becomming increasingly common in ordinary homes. I am speaking of mobile phones, routers, wireless keyboards and mice, bluetooth headsets and dect phones.The conclusion of the article, briefly put, is that there are no scientific evidence that this radiation causes any harm. It is a fact that studies showing potential dangers of radiation get much more attention than studies which show zero effects, even though the latter type are much more common. Furthermore, most of the studies which have shown slight biological effects of radiation have subsequently been replicated with contrasting results i.e. the latter studies did not find any effects.
I think that one of the reasons why some people are so afraid of these things is the fact that they radiate, and we all know that radiation is bad right? No, not necessarily so. Radiation can be your friend to. If it were not for the radiation from the sun we would not be alive. Similarly, seeing involves the capture of radiation by photoreceptors in the back of your retina. In fact we are all rich sources of radiation which you can see for yourself if you have a camera that pick up infrared wavelength.
But isn't that different? Sure some sorts of radiation are more dangerous than others. Cosmic rays which arive from outer space are extremely rich in energy, and alot of that type of radiation would be bad for you. Similarly, X-rays will slightly increase the risk of cancers because it is rich in energy. But what about the radiation from all those home devices? This radiation is lower in energy than normal visual light, so you are very unlikely to get cancer from this type of radiation. These devices actually emit microwaves, just like your microwave oven. The difference is that the radiation is not contained within a box, and also the power is 10,000 smaller than in an ordinary microwave oven (for a dect phone it is 100,000 times smaller). If you want a different point of view on these issues, you can visit this page.
The article also gives some quick answers to the following questions:
1. Does radiation from mobile phones cause cancer: False
2. Will using a bluetooth headset reduce the amount of radiation you are exposed to: True (because a bluetooth headset has a much lower effect than the mobile phone)
3. A dect phone emits more radiation than a mobile phone: False
4. A 3G phone radiates more than a GSM mobile phone: False
5. More wireless devices in the home will make it more dangerous: False
6. A new router radiates more than an old router: False
7. It is dangerous to have your mobile lying next to you when you are sleeping: False
8. The mobile will emit less radiation if you hold your hand over it: False (actually it will radiate more becuase that is necessary in order to communicate the station.
9. Even the good old cable hardware emits radiation: True (anything with a current in it, a cable for instance, will generate a magnetic field which is also basically a form of radiation.
I want to end with a personal reflection on an issue which I think is highly relevant yet often forgotten. Mobile phones, which as mentioned is the device which has the highest effect and thus the highest radiation, has been around for about two decades now. In spite of their popularity, there has not been any increase in cancers in this timeperiod. This "natural experiment" shows that if mobile phones have any effect at all on the human body, that effect have to be very subtle. Pretend for a moment that there has been a slight increase in some obscure form of cancer, or other type of disease, that is a result of mobile phone radiation. Even such a necessarily slight effect would pale in comparison to the enourmous benefits of being able to call ambulances, fire fighters and the police from almost anywhere on this planet. Hurray for mobile phones!
7 comments:
My dear friend you don't know what you are talking about. I am 71 years of age and served for 21 years in the communications field in the Regular Army. I saw what microwave and all other forms of RF can do to human beings. All my mates have died from all forms of cancers relating to the head, such as brain tumours, mouth and throat cancer.
Most have suffered from undiagnosable illnesses for many decades.
Since Mobile Phones came over the past ten years in my country, my tinnitus began and was suffering feeling of ants crawling up my legs when my wife used her mobile phone. As the years passed on and the introduction of all forms of cordless electronic apparatuses my health has deteriorated considerable, and all my symptoms are the safe as the symptoms of CFS, RF Sickness, and Mercury Poisoning.
Over the past four weeks my life has become a torment since my two next door neighbours have installed DECTs in their units, which is either side of my unit and joined by a thin brick wall. The nearest phone is five feet, and it has become relentless. Over the past four weeks since the nearest DECT has been installed my tinnitus is now extreme, and my brain and heart are being cooked. I wake up with my brain feeling as thought someone has hit it with an electric shock, and suffer all day from migrained type brain aches.
This morning at 2AM, I couldn’t stay in my bed anymore, and moved to the loungeroom to get always from the electronic harassment from this DECT.
You have no idea of what you are talking about, and for you to post all this rubbish, when there are more substantial evidence. Shame on you!
Thank you for the comment rfsufferer.
I am aware that there are people like you who have these sorts of issues and that they associate them with different types of microwave radiation. However, I am not aware of any controlled studies that have actually been able to show this association.
If you can point me to any references I would be very interested.
Ras, my dear friend, and the same question I could ask you: “What scientific proof have you that RF microwave transmissions do not harm human beings?”
These days, at the rate that electronic equipment is being developed and splashed across the airways it is impossible to produce such rivetting proof that you require.
After all, most specialists who are suppose to conduct these experiments for communcations equipment companies are in fact the CEOs of most communcation equipments companies.
There are more than a few, who suffer like me, and there are many, many well documented cases and evidence of such things through personal experience and medical science.
One such symptom of RF sickness, and Mercury poisoning, was found are similar symptoms and medical test conducted with a number of people a few months ago found that the mercury level in people with amalgam fillings presented higher levels of mercury in their urine after 10 minutes talking on a mobile phone than those who had no amalgam fillings.
We all know from enough information recorded on the Internet that DECT is the most dagerous of all electronics, and Wi Fi and RF routers are the next.
Many Wi Fi communication setups are being removed from schools because of the increase of children with bipolar, ADD, and many other mental disorders because of Wi Fi.
Sixty years ago, they said that DDT would kill anyone.
Forty years ago, they said that cigarette smoking was harmless.
Thity years ago, there was nothing wrong with binge drinking of alcohol.
Twenty years ago, they said that Dieldrin was harmless.
Ten years ago, they said that Herbicide is harmless.
Now you are saying that RF microwave transmission that go through every cell in your body, cannot harm a human being, when there are multitudes of experiments on animals to prove differently.
I’ve seen enough of my mates die from pancreatic cancer caused by a formation of a tumour in their pancreas. I had such removed from my pancreas four years ago. It wasn’t there ten years ago, but soon appeared after mobile phones came into my country. The medical operation is called “Whipples”.
Three months ago, one of our top brain surgeons spoke out about the increase of brain tumours in people under the age of 25 years, and that he believed that mobile phones and other electronic equipment has caused this increase of brain tumours, and down to the age of 12 year olds. There also, has been an increase in children under the age of 12 years from approximately 150 in 100,000 to 1500 in 50,000 with bipolar and all other mental disorders.
Then there are people like me, and many of of mates who are dying from cancers, and lately there has been an increase in lung cancer, and they are non-smokers. I suffer a lung disorder, which is one of the symptoms of sensitivity to RF microwave. In my days in the Army, you didn’t even have to turn of the light switch to ignite the fluro tubes; the radio equipment produced the necessary power to run them.
Before you go off on a tangent you need keep your thoughts to yourself, and wait and see, because you base knowledge of these things is very limited.
My cousin's grandson, at six months of age, was bathed in DECT with a baby monitor, 24/7, a beautiful baby, and through his father's throughtlessness on this particularly time I saw him give his pretty-picture, mobile phone to hs son to play with. Three months later this beautiful little boy was rushed to hospital in a seizure, and is now autistic. The DECT baby monitor did this, and the thoughtlessness of his father. Their marriage is destroyed.
So before you begin to waffle on with unfounded knowledge, pull back and use some commonsense, and get in touch with reality. I saw enough in the Army those many years ago.
Take care, and would like to see your health in another ten years.
Ras, my dear friend, and the same question I could ask you: “What scientific proof have you that RF microwave transmissions do not harm human beings?”
These days, at the rate that electronic equipment is being developed and splashed across the airways it is impossible to produce such rivetting proof that you require.
After all, most specialists who are suppose to conduct these experiments for communcations equipment companies are in fact the CEOs of most communcation equipments companies.
There are more than a few, who suffer like me, and there are many, many well documented cases and evidence of such things through personal experience and medical science.
One such symptom of RF sickness, and Mercury poisoning, was found are similar symptoms and medical test conducted with a number of people a few months ago found that the mercury level in people with amalgam fillings presented higher levels of mercury in their urine after 10 minutes talking on a mobile phone than those who had no amalgam fillings.
We all know from enough information recorded on the Internet that DECT is the most dagerous of all electronics, and Wi Fi and RF routers are the next.
Many Wi Fi communication setups are being removed from schools because of the increase of children with bipolar, ADD, and many other mental disorders because of Wi Fi.
Sixty years ago, they said that DDT would kill anyone.
Forty years ago, they said that cigarette smoking was harmless.
Thity years ago, there was nothing wrong with binge drinking of alcohol.
Twenty years ago, they said that Dieldrin was harmless.
Ten years ago, they said that Herbicide is harmless.
Now you are saying that RF microwave transmission that go through every cell in your body, cannot harm a human being, when there are multitudes of experiments on animals to prove differently.
I’ve seen enough of my mates die from pancreatic cancer caused by a formation of a tumour in their pancreas. I had such removed from my pancreas four years ago. It wasn’t there ten years ago, but soon appeared after mobile phones came into my country. The medical operation is called “Whipples”.
Three months ago, one of our top brain surgeons spoke out about the increase of brain tumours in people under the age of 25 years, and that he believed that mobile phones and other electronic equipment has caused this increase of brain tumours, and down to the age of 12 year olds. There also, has been an increase in children under the age of 12 years from approximately 150 in 100,000 to 1500 in 50,000 with bipolar and all other mental disorders.
Then there are people like me, and many of of mates who are dying from cancers, and lately there has been an increase in lung cancer, and they are non-smokers. I suffer a lung disorder, which is one of the symptoms of sensitivity to RF microwave. In my days in the Army, you didn’t even have to turn of the light switch to ignite the fluro tubes; the radio equipment produced the necessary power to run them.
Before you go off on a tangent you need keep your thoughts to yourself, and wait and see, because you base knowledge of these things is very limited.
My cousin's grandson, at six months of age, was bathed in DECT with a baby monitor, 24/7, a beautiful baby, and through his father's throughtlessness on this particularly time I saw him give his pretty-picture, mobile phone to hs son to play with. Three months later this beautiful little boy was rushed to hospital in a seizure, and is now autistic. The DECT baby monitor did this, and the thoughtlessness of his father. Their marriage is destroyed.
So before you begin to waffle on with unfounded knowledge, pull back and use some commonsense, and get in touch with reality. I saw enough in the Army those many years ago.
Take care, and would like to see your health in another ten years.
Thank you for the comment.
Though it is virtually impossible to prove a negative and though it is you who are making the extraordinary claim (there is no physical reason why microwaves should cause more damage than say radiation in the visual spectrum), I will provide you with a few studies which to me shows that it is not the microwaves that cause the symptoms that you are describing...
Study 1:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18044740?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Study 2:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17359515?ordinalpos=3&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Study: 3
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17486598?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Study 4:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16520326?ordinalpos=5&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
So again, what makes you think that it is the microwave radiation from the DECT phones that is causing your symptoms?
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