Caring about our future

If EMR is a threat - what can we do?

One of the first things that we can do is to check the age and SAR value of our mobile phones:

Click here to check your Mobile  Specific Absorption Rates (SAR) now!

SAR (specific absorption rate) is a measurement of how much electromagnetic radiation is absorbed by body tissue whilst using a mobile phone. The higher the SAR the more radiation is absorbed.

In Europe, the European Union Council has adopted the recommendations made by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP Guidelines 1998). These recommendations set a SAR limit of 2.0 W/kg in 10g of tissue. The UK Government has endorsed this limit (following a report by the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones) and the five mobile phone network operators have agreed to voluntarily adopt the ICNIRP guidelines for public exposure. All mobile phones on sale in the UK comply with this limit.

In the United States, the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) requires all cell phones to comply with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) SAR limit of 1.6 W/kg in 1g of tissue.

SAR Values
If you are interested you can check your own phone's SAR value against the SAR values list.  However, it is worth mentioning that the SAR values shown are maximum values and in practice emissions from mobile phones will normally be lower than these figures. The emissions depend on factors such as distance from a transmission mast, whether the phone is used indoors or outdoors, how close the phone is held to the ear and other operating factors. It is important to realise that a phone with a high SAR rating may actually operate with much lower emissions in practice, and conversely a phone with a lower SAR rating may operate with emissions higher than a high SAR phone in practice.

You should not rely on a low SAR rating to guarantee your health.

Another point worth noting is that SAR values are not necessarily the most appropriate metric to measure the potential risk of phones in general (as cordless phones appear to be having just as pronounced effects as mobile phones despite having about one twentieth (5%) of their SAR value). It seems that some other characteristic (the nature of the pulsing signal perhaps?) is causing the increase in cancer, by a mechanism we have not yet discovered.

What can I do to reduce the risk?

Here are some precautionary measures you can take to reduce the risk to yourself and your family:

• Assess your environment levels of phone radiation - using a screening device eg Electrosmog - this device emits a sound whenever EMR is present - you should hear nothing at all as you go around your house - but you will be surprised I suspect.
• Do not use your phone more than necessary and keep your calls short
• Send a text instead of making a call
• Try to avoid using your phone if the signal strength is low - find a better location to make a call
• Try to use the phone outdoors rather than inside, or move close to a window to make a call
• Keep the phone (and particularly the aerial) as far as possible from your head
• Avoid touching the aerial while the phone is turned on, and keep the phone away from areas of the body such as eyes, testicles, breasts and internal organs
• Limit usage as much as possible if pregnant
• Switch off your phone when not in use
• You should be aware that if the phone is receiving a very strong signal from a base station, then power output can be reduced by up to 1000 times compared with when the phone has a poor signal

  Norwegian Study on How to Combat EMR - the Biophone

A Norwegian team have conducted ground breaking research into how mobile phones effect the body’s cells. In addition, the report also introduces a technology, in the form of a Biophone button, that appears to help combat those harmful effects of EM radiation.

  (For more information re: Biophone and Bioguard, please email me: dawn@dawnheather.com)

Electro Magnetic Radiation - What is it?

So what is it that we are worrying about?  What is Electro Magnetic Radiation (EMR)?

According to Andrew Goldsworthy (Radiation Research):
All modern electronics emit electromagnetic radiation. Radio waves, microwaves, visible light, and x-rays are all examples. Electromagnetic waves are produced by the motion of electrically charged particles. These waves are also called "electromagnetic radiation" because they radiate from the electrically charged particles. They travel through empty space as well as through air and other substances.

If I can’t see Electro-Magnetic radiation – how do I know where it is?
The internal circuits of personal computers generate EM fields. Also, cathode ray tube (CRT) displays generate EM energy over a wide band of frequencies. As do mobile phones. To prove this simply place a radio receiver of any kind and use it at the same time as you use your personal computer, or mobile phone and you will probably hear RF noise in the receiver that originates in the computer or from the phone.

What is EMI (electromagnetic interference)?
EMI (electromagnetic interference) is the disruption caused by an electromagnetic field. This is why mobile phones are not allowed to be used in hospitals, aeroplanes or petrol stations. The EM radiation emitted from them can interfere with sensitive equipment and poses a danger to safety.

EMI was traditionally used to describe how one EM field emitted from one electronic device affects the operation of another electronic device, EMI can now also be used to help explain the ways in which EM radiation effects living things.

How do I know if I am at risk?
A study was conducted by Lennart Hardell, a professor of oncology at university hospital in Orebro, Sweden. It was published in a British journal, Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

This study showed that the chance of developing a malignant brain tumor was roughly eight times higher for cell phone users in the Swedish countryside than in urban areas. The risk of developing any brain tumour was four times higher for country dwellers using mobile phones for five years or more, compared with those who did not use the devices.

The study suggests that mobile handsets in rural areas deliver a higher dose of electromagnetic radiation because they have to transmit a stronger signal to distant transmission towers, whereas towers are closer together in urban areas, resulting in phones transmitting a weaker signal.

They suggest that the risk may be greater in children whose thinner skulls and developing nervous system make them more vulnerable.

This suggests that we are in a no win situation - if you live near a base station you are at risk, if you live in a rural area you are at risk.

According to IMS research, the number of active base stations worldwide is set to pass 3 million units by the end of 2007.

Other reports:

The Daily Mail reported that “researchers found that long-term users had double the chance of getting a malignant tumour on the side of the brain where they held the handset”.

The stories are based on a review of studies that looked at the difference in mobile phone usage between people with and without brain tumours for more than a 10 year period.

The authors found 11 studies on people who had used mobile phones for more than a decade. Some of these showed that mobile phone use significantly increased the risk of some types of brain cancer while others did not.

Further perspective is given to this by data from Cancer Research UK, which suggests that “brain tumours” are rare and occur in less than seven in 100,000 people.

Contrary to newspaper reports, this review did not find that children are at greater risk of cancer from mobile use. The review did not look specifically at children and it would not be possible to come to this conclusion.

However, the Stewart Report, a government sponsored independent review, recommended in 2004 that the use of mobiles by children should be minimised as a precautionary measure. This recommendation is endorsed by the findings from the 2007 MTHR Report, which found that although there was no evidence that mobile phones were associated with adverse effects in adults, further research is still needed for their use by children, and for their long-term use by adults. Proposals for the MTHR 2 study that begins in 2008 include epidemiological studies of the risk of brain tumours in children.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The use of mobile phones over a long period of time can raise the risk for brain tumors, a new Swedish study said on Friday, contradicting the conclusions of other researchers. The Dutch Health Council, in an overview of research from around the world, last year found no evidence radiation from mobile phones and TV towers was harmful. A four-year British survey released in January showed no link between regular, long-term use of cell phones and the most common type of tumor. However, researchers at the Swedish National Institute for Working Life said they looked at the mobile phone use of 905 people between the age of 20 and 80 who had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and found a link.

What you need to know - Conventional View
•  A new Finnish study published online in the International Journal of Cancer compared 1,521 cellular phone users who received a glioma to 3,301 control participants without tumors.

• For people who have used a modern cellular phone for more than 2000 hours in their lifetime, the risk of getting a brain tumor rose by 270 percent.

• The study is considered the second that firmly correlates cell phone usage with an increased risk of developing certain brain tumors.

• The risk was highest among people under the age of 20.

• Older-style analog cell phones already have been shown as a source of brain tumors, but even with the development of digital cellular phones, the risk is still there.

• According to a scientist associated with the web site foodconsumer.org, the study results should not make readers assume that ten years of cell phone use will correlate to an immediate tumor, but that the tumor will show up later than that.

What you need to know - Alternative View
• Mobile phone manufacturers have tried to suppress the dangers of mobile phones by funding their own distorted research that concludes the phones are perfectly safe.
• All people -- but children and teens especially -- should be warned against using mobile phones due to the increased risk of brain tumors.

Bottom line
• Cell phone usage is shown to increase your risk of a brain tumor.

Do Mobile Phones pose a risk to our health?

Mobile phones are now an essential part of our everyday lives - helping us keep in touch - acting as a safety precaution - performing as business aids and so on - many of us would find it difficult to manage without them.  However, there is a great deal of evidence suggesting that they could be very bad for our health in the long term.

SO as a mobile, or even a cordless phone, user, what do you know about the link between Electro Magnetic Radiation and brain tumours?

How much are you at risk? 

Here is some information compiled from  a range of reliable sources that illustrates the size of the issue and the implications for many of us:

It is an accepted fact that one of the fastest growing communication industries is Mobile Phone production:  In 2006 Nokia, a major manufacturer, predicted that by 2009 there will be over 3 Billion mobile phone users worldwide. That may sound astonishing, but we are already well on the way to reaching that demographic in most of the developed world.

Worldwide, the percentage of households with mobile phones are:

Japan - 95%
South Korea - 94%
China 93%
France - 85%
Germany - 83%
UK - 79%

Mobile Internet Usage
With the additional technological advancement of being able to surf the net and email from our mobiles our overall usage has increased.  In April 2006, it was estimated that 28% of mobile users had accessed the Internet from their mobile phones, which is an increase from an estimated 25% in late 2004.

Whilst this number signals the increasing popularity, there is one fact that makes it more interesting.  The area of chief growth came from the sector comprising 35-54 year old males.  This demographic is not known to invest in technology fads, and their adoption of this technology indicates viable growth potential.

Mobile Internet usage has grown worldwide, with Japan in the lead. The percentages of mobile users accessing the Internet per country are estimated at:

Japan - 40%
UK - 29%
USA - 26%
South Korea - 26%
Canada 19%
Germany 18%
France - 18%
Mexico - 16%
China - 10%

UK Mobile Phones

According to the Oftel Residential Survey, 75 per cent of all adults in the United Kingdom owned or used a mobile phone in May 2003.  Twenty one per cent used their mobile as their main method of telephone communication, with 8 per cent of homes relying totally on a mobile, with no fixed line phone.

Increase in the demand for mobile phones has led to an increase in the number of base stations constructed all over the UK.  Whether living close to a base station provides a health risk is also under scrutiny at the present time:

The balance of evidence indicates that there is no general risk to the health of people living near base stations, on the basis that exposures are expected to be small fractions of guidelines.  However, gaps in scientific knowledge led the Stewart Group to recommend a precautionary approach to the use of mobile phones and base stations until more research findings become available. They added that in some cases people’s well-being may be adversely affected by insensitive siting of base stations.

So should we assume that if someone says it is safe, that we can ignore those who are saying it is not?   Who can we trust?

Mobile-phone antennae produce non-ionizing radio-frequency energy, the same kind of radiation used in microwave ovens.  RF energy of sufficient levels can harm living tissue by heating it to the point of causing damage. However, cell phones produce only six-tenths of a watt of RF energy, several orders of magnitude below that of a microwave oven.

The lawsuits contend that even this much radiation so close to a cell-phone user's head is potentially dangerous, charging that the manufacturers and service providers chose not to mitigate the risk by providing headsets with every phone.

Some more statistics on mobile phone usage

• over one trillion text messages were sent via mobile phones worldwide in 2005.
• One billion mobile phones will be sold in 2006 (812 million sold in 2005)
• The mobile phone is the most common electronics device in the world and considered the fourth window of content after television, the big screen and the personal computer.
• Asia Pacific is the world’s largest mobile phone market
• There are 409 million mobile phone users in China as of the end March 2006.
• There are more mobile users than landline customers in China.
• During the recent Chinese New Year season, 2.7 billion SMS-es were sent.
• About 50% of all handsets shipped around the world are cameraphones
• The two billionth mobile phone user worldwide was connected this past weekend and new users are signing up at the rate of 1000 per minute, says the GSM Association (GSMA). More than 72 million of these users are 3GSM customers.

Craig Ehrlich, chairman of the GSMA, says 'While it took just 12 years for the industry to reach the first billion connections. The second billion has been achieved in just two and a half years boosted by the phenomenal take up of mobile in emerging markets such as China, India, Africa and Latin America, which accounted for 82 per cent of the second billion subscribers.'

Results from present studies on use of mobile phones for 10 years give a consistent pattern of increased risk for acoustic neuroma and glioma. The risk is highest for ipsilateral exposure.

The latest study on brain tumours and phone use shows the biggest increase of any study so far, and is statistically significant in all areas. The new study on 905 malignant brain tumour cases shows a 1.7 to 5.9-fold increase in risk for long-term mobile phone and cordless phone users.

Increased risk was obtained for both cellular and cordless phones, highest in the group with more than 10 years use of mobile or cordless phones.