subject: The Precautionary Principle - A Realistic Solution To Cell Phone Radiation? [print this page] On September 14th, 2009, the U.SOn September 14th, 2009, the U.S. Senate convened for hearings on the Health Effects of Cell Phones. Among those who testified was Dr. John Bucher, the associate director of the National Toxicology Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He stated, "There have been some hints recently that there is an increase in brain cancers in people who have used these cellular communication devices for a number of years."
Dr. Bucher's agency is funding a large scale test--but not on people--on rodents. These animals will be given the kind of exposure that humans get when using cell phones. Unfortunately, results won't be in until the year 2013. Will that be too late?
Another expert who testified was Dr. Siegal Sadetzki, MD. She is the Director of the Cancer and Radiation Epidemiology Unit, at the Gertner Institute in Israel. Dr. Sadetzki has recently published the results of a study, in which she and her colleagues found a link between cell phone use and cancer. According to that study, those who frequently use cell phones on a certain side of their head are 50% more likely than non-cell-phone-users to develop a tumor in the salivary gland on that side of the head.
In her testimony she said, "What worried me was that, in my study, I saw consistent positive results and they always appeared where there is biological plausibility." These results appeared on the same side of the head where the phone was held, they appeared for the heavy users, and they appeared in rural areas compared to urban areas, where you might expect cell phone cancers to be higher. Dr. Sadetzki concluded her speech by advising the "precautionary principle."
Senator Arlen Specter, D-Pennsylvania, agreed, "Precautions are not a bad idea," he said.
In regard to cell phone use, the precautionary principle suggests practices such as using a wired headset instead of a Bluetooth earpiece, and enabling the speaker function rather than holding the phone to your ear. In addition, rather than storing the cell phone in your pocket, keep the phone away from your body between calls. Paramount to the precautionary principle is to limit the use of cell phones whenever possible. Make fewer calls and make shorter ones. Choose a cell phone with low-radiation and limit children's cell phone usage, since their brain cells may be more sensitive to the effects of cell phone radiation.
The precautionary principle has good intentions. But, it's tantamount to telling a smoker that smoking may be dangerous and that she should smoke fewer cigarettes. We now know for a fact that smoking is life-threatening, but it doesn't stop people from lighting up.
Cell phones and other hand held devices are rapidly becoming a part of our culture. Cell phones are everywhere. They are used by 87 percent of Americans and over 4 billion people worldwide. Students in high school and now even grade school children are using cell phones to talk to each other, and text messaging has become a social norm. We are addicted to cell phones.
If you are concerned about cell phone radiation, if you feel that the precautionary principle is not enough or simply impractical for you or your family, there are extra things you can do to protect yourself.
New technologies are emerging to shield the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) emitted from cell phones and other electronic devices. Certain chips can be attached to cell phones and earpieces to counteract the EMR, and special paint coated on your walls can limit EMR from adjacent apartments seeping into yours. These shields may help you if you stay behind them. Those who like to roam can wear special headbands, clothing, hats, gloves, and pendants designed to protect the wearer against radiofrequencies and EMR.
However, if an environment of increasingly higher EMR is to become the norm, don't we owe it to ourselves as a species to find ways not just to hide from EMR, but adapt to it? Is it possible to take charge of our own evolution and become gradually more immune to the increasing levels of electromagnetic radiation?
Through a recent breakthrough in energy medicine, a natural remedy has been developed that suggests this may be possible. By strengthening the natural life-giving energy field that exists around the body and each individual cell, this remedy increases the body's natural resistance to electromagnetic radiation, and helps the cells adapt to it, build resistance to it, and even develop natural immunity to it.
For those of us who simply cannot live without our cell phones, and who do practice cell phone precautions whenever possible, but who feel we need something more, there are options to shield and protect. Now there's also an option to adapt, evolve, and ensure our survival through the 21st century.
