Increasing Danger From Cell Phones

More and more Americans are eliminating their landlines in favor of wireless phones, and as such are having increasing exposures to Cell Phone dangers.



Nearly one in six households are now wireless-only, according to a new survey by the National Institutes of Health.



About 14.5 percent of adults, or 32 million Americans, live in wireless-only households, as do 10 million children. In 2006, less than one in eight adults lived in wireless-only households, and in 2004, only one in 18 adults did, so the trend is clearly increasing.



The greatest indicator of who is likely to live in a wireless-only household is age. Nearly a third of those aged 18-29 have no land lines, as opposed to people aged 30-44 (15.5 percent), 45-64 (8 percent), and 65 or older (only 2.2 percent).



Even among households that still have both landlines and mobile phones, over 22 percent received "all or almost all" calls on mobile phones. In all, over 13 percent of households are “wireless-mostly.”



Sources:

Ars Technica May 14, 2008



Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Folks, this is a disaster in the making, especially for the next generation. It’s very telling that younger adults are the most likely age group to have only Cell Phone s and no land lines at all. The situation is going to worsen as this progressively becomes the norm. Many children in the generation currently being born will be raised with no other type of phone except their Cell Phone s. This puts them in grave danger.



New research has shown that children, because of their developing brains, are particularly vulnerable to the radiation emitted by cell phones. Current evidence suggests that if this trend continues, it will contribute to an epidemic of brain cancer, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, and other serious health problems.



A Wireless World



But even if you do not own a cell phone, or use it only for emergencies, you and your children are not entirely safe. Cell phones are simply one aspect of a much broader problem. Almost all wireless technology carries with it the same risks. If you use a wireless internet connection, a PDA, or a portable cordless home telephone, you are exposing you and your family to the exact same danger.



In fact, portable home phones are actually more dangerous than cell phones. With the exception of a few older models, portable phones broadcast constantly, even when you are not making a phone call (cell phones also broadcast when you are not making a call, but intermittently). If you sleep with a portable home phone next to your bed, you are being bathed in a constant stream of dangerous electromagnetic radiation.



For that matter, even if you avoid wireless devices entirely, you are being exposed to electromagnetic radiation right now, whether you are aware of it or not. The wireless infrastructure that enables cell phones to work -- as well as other wireless technologies -- is now so extensive that exposure for most people is almost unavoidable.



The world is already showing the early signs of an epidemic of brain cancer -- an epidemic that is expected by some scientists to grow to 500,000 cases in 2010 and over 1 million cases in the United States alone in 2015. Those who avoid brain cancer may find themselves battling other health problems both major and minor, such as headaches and dizziness, Alzheimer’s disease, autism and even impotence.



What Causes the Damage?



The part of the electromagnetic spectrum used by cell phones and other wireless devices to communicate does not occur naturally on the earth’s surface -- logically, it has to be, or there would be too much interference for cell phones to work.



In particular, the extremely low-frequency waves used to actually carry your voice or other data, known as Information Carrying Radio Waves, are not frequencies that you would ever encounter in a natural form on earth. Because of this, your body has not made any biological adaptation to protect you from electromagnetic radiation in these frequencies.



More importantly, the very rarity of these frequencies on the earth’s surface made them ideal ones for your body to use as an internal communication system, for the same reason that cell phones use them -- a lack of interference. But now that man-made wireless communication is widespread, there is a great deal of interference.



Your cells have two types of receptors: chemical receptors and vibrational receptors. Chemical receptors respond to biochemical signals, but vibrational receptors are microscopic cilia, little hair-like sensors that respond to electromagnetic vibrations. When an Information Carrying Radio Wave hits a ciliary vibrational receptor, the receptor resonates. Since this form of radiation does not occur naturally, your cells do not recognize it, and treat it as a potential threat. They respond by sealing themselves off, effectively shutting down their ability to communicate with other cells.



This reaction evolved as a short-term response to immediate danger; it was never designed to protect against the persistent signals of wireless communication. Soon, these sealed off cells start starving for lack of nutrients. Toxins, heavy metals, and free radicals build up inside of them, because the cell can no longer excrete them.



The intercellular communication breakdown can impair or destroy the function of whole tissue systems and organs. Soon, cells become damaged, and over the long term, this damage can have serious effects, especially in your complex and delicate brain -- which, unfortunately, is right next to where most people hold their cell phones.



There are other dangers, as well. Information Carrying Radio Waves piggyback on carrier waves, which operate at a much higher frequency. The effects of carrier waves are extremely subtle and hard to detect, but that does not make them any less dangerous.



The DNA in each of your cells contracts and extends like a coil several billion times per second, and these contractions create a timing system that regulates the activity of your metabolic enzymes. Carrier waves, however, operate on the exact same frequency as your DNA, and can cause interference that interrupts this fragile and crucial form of communication. The complex timing of your body’s biological processes are being disrupted by your cell phone.



The effects of both the carrier waves and the Information Carrying Radio Waves can lead to serious, serious medical and health problems, up to and including degenerative brain disease and damaged, and potentially cancer-causing, DNA in your cells.



Protect Yourself



While you cannot completely avoid wireless radiation, there are certainly some steps you can take to minimize your exposure and reduce your risks.





Children Should Never Use Cell Phones: Barring a life-threatening emergency, children should not use a cell phone, or a wireless device of any type. Children are far more vulnerable to cell phone radiation than adults, because of their thinner skull bones.



Reduce Your Cell Phone Use: Turn your cell phone off more often. Reserve it for emergencies or important matters. In the case of the iPhone you should actually take the battery out as even when the phone is turned off it is actually acting as a transmitter for other iPhones and you essentially have a mini cell phone tower in your home even if the phone is turned off.



Use A Land Line At Home And At Work: Although more and more people are switching to using cell phones as their exclusive phone contact, it is a dangerous trend and you can choose to opt out of the madness.



Reduce or Eliminate Your Use of Other Wireless Devices: You would be wise to cut down your use of these devices. Just as with cell phones, it is important to ask yourself whether or not you really need to use them every single time. If you must use a portable home phone, use the older kind that operates at 900 MHz. They are no safer during calls, but at least they do not broadcast constantly even when no call is being made.



Use Your Cell Phone Only Where Reception Is Good: The weaker the reception, the more power your phone must use to transmit, and the more power it uses, the more radiation it emits, and the deeper the dangerous radio waves penetrate into your body. Ideally, you should only use your phone with full bars and good reception.



Turn Your Cell Phone Off When Not In Use: As long as your cell phone is on, it emits radiation intermittently, even when you are not actually making a call.



Keep Your Cell Phone Away From Your Body When It Is On: The most dangerous place to be, in terms of radiation exposure, is within about six inches of the emitting antenna. You do not want any part of your body within that area.



Use Safer Headset Technology: Wired headsets will certainly allow you to keep the cell phone further away from your body. However, if a wired headset is not well-shielded -- and most of them are not -- the wire itself acts as an antenna attracting ambient information carrying radio waves and transmitting radiation directly to your brain.



Make sure that the wire used to transmit the signal to your ear is shielded. The best kind of headset to use is a combination shielded wire and air-tube headset. These operate like a stethoscope, transmitting the information to your head as an actual sound wave; although there are wires that still must be shielded, there is no wire that goes all the way up to your head.