What are the health impacts of cell phones and Wifi?

Many of us have already begun the process of cleaning up our homes to create a healthier living environment for our families and ourselves. From organic produce, non-toxic body products and cleaning supplies, air filters, and water filters, there are lots of things we can do.

Since our son was born, and as part of our cleaning process, we have started to think about how we can reduce the potential danger from cell phones, WiFi, and other electronic devices through our house.

I would like to start by explaining why we have concerns.

Reports of symptoms including insomnia, anxiety, headaches, fatigue, vision problems, concentration problems have been reported with the introduction of Wifi into school classrooms.

Not everybody will be affected by WiFi. People have different sensitivities. In the same way a bee can sting one person and nothing happens, another can develop anaphylaxis. Some researchers estimate that about 5% of the population are hyper sensitive to electromagnetic radiation (EMR). Those people may walk around not understanding why they feel unwell.

The Human brain IS sensitive to EMR

It is unequivocally clear that the brain’s chemistry changes with a cell phone next to it. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (a prestigious journal) looking at scans of a brain both with and without a cell phone next to the ear, showed an increase in sugar metabolism with the cell phone turned on.

This is conclusive confirmation that the human brain is sensitive to EMR. The researchers correctly note that this does not tell us whether a cell phone will produce cancer, but knowing this, we cannot dismiss any concern about potential negatives of cell phones.

Brain cancers with cell phone use

Several big studies have taken place to look at this. Some of these have shown a significant increased risk of brain tumours, while others have shown no significant increased risk.

One of the big challenges in establishing good research here is the long duration of time over which a brain tumour develops. Only studies with greater than 10 year follow up can be considered valid, so data takes a long time to collect, study, and publish.

Of the longer duration studies with 10+ years of follow up, analysis of all the published research does reveal an increase in risk for specific types of brain cancer, including gliomas and neuromas. Very likely studies over 20 and 30 years duration will show even stronger ties.

Like any new technology, the Influence of industry bias in published research can potentially impair the progress toward discovering the truth. Studies funded by telecom are more likely to show positive safety data compared to studies funded elsewhere. This is no different than the widely recognized and studied influence of the food industry or the pharmaceutical industry over research into their own products. It is just something that we must take into account.

Breast Cancer and Cell Phones

Anecdotally, an oncologist in the United States has recently presented a report describing two recent cases of breast cancer in relatively healthy young women without known risk factors, family history, or genetic predisposition. Such cases were unprecedented in his career, but the common element between these cases was these girls’ habit of carrying their cell phones tucked in their bras.

This is not proof of causation, but it is very suspicious.

The Precaution Principle

Concerns have been raised about cell phone and Wifi (EMR) since these technologies first became mainstream. Now that the links described above have been made, we should ask ourselves “what else might EMR be doing to us?” Since we don’t know, and there is established reason for concern we should choose to keep this radiation minimized. It’s just exercising precaution, like wearing a seat belt.

In the case of EMR, evidence is gathering that shows radiation from our electronics do impact our physiology. Exactly what impact they have on any given individual is uncertain.

~ Dr. Colin Race

In the next blog post…

Part 2: What can we do to protect ourselves from EMR?