Mobile Phones Explained: Can Your Phone Affect Your Health?

In the past ten years mobile phones have come under investigation for their effect on health

, with concerns that their use is connected to a higher incidence of infertility, brain tumours, cancers, sleep disturbance and other disorders. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has partnered with the FCC to oversee mobile phone radiation and has so far cautiously concluded that mobile handsets are safe. Though several studies have been made, so far only a correlation has been established. Direct causation is inconclusive.

Why does my phone have radiation?

As we talk mobile phones convert our voices into continuous sine curve waves. The phone's antenna then sends these waves out by radio frequency as energy. This travelling energy is radiation and is used in other communications devices like radios, televisions and cordless phones.

The radiation transmitted by mobile phones is classified as "non-ionising". This means it isn't strong enough to steal electrons from other molecules and so destroy them. Therefore unlike radiation like gamma rays or x rays it isn't considered directly harmful to people.

Why the controversy over mobile phones and health then?

Non-ionising radiation doesn't pose an immediate danger but nevertheless our bodies will still absorb some radiation when we chat on mobile phones. With this, the FCC has provided a radiation limit the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). This is the legal amount of electromagnetic radiation mobile phones can generate without being a health threat. In Europe this is set at 2 watts per kg; in the UK 1.6 watts per kg.

Additionally, radiation can have a thermal effect on the body. Though the SAR limit is generally considered well below the threshold of the thermal effect, researchers at the Fininish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority have found that waves at this frequency can still impact the behaviour of human cells; they found non-ionising waves affected two types of protein.

What has prevented conclusive studies?

Though mobile phones should theoretically be safe under the SAR limits, they don't take into account several factors. For example, mobile phones are relatively new parts of our lives. Brain tumours can take up to 20 years to present and mobile phones haven't been prominently used widely for that length of time. There is also difficulty distinguishing between casual and heavy phone users. Indeed, in the international Interphone study to determine health effects of mobile phones, researchers found that participants underestimated how many calls they made and for how long. They also didn't take into account how close they kept their phones to their bodies throughout the day. Without more refined parameters in studies, results so far have been muddied.

Mobile Phones Explained: Can Your Phone Affect Your Health?

By: Pandora Devine

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