Cell Phones and Children's Health~Are they safe?

Written by a concerned parent


Introduction: My story

I am a parent whose interest in the issue of cell phone safety started a while back, when my young son's birthday was approaching, and we were in the process of getting him his first cell phone.

We looked over the main brands, and compared prices, and features. As this went on, and we neared a decision as to which to purchase, a thought occurred to me: "I wonder if cell phones are actually safe for a young child?"

It was the type of afterthought that parent's typically apply as one of many things to check off before buying a child a product, like looking to see what the rating on a movie is before letting their child watch it.

I fully expected to find out that, as with food and medicine and many other products that the government has jurisdiction over, cell phones would have been tested and shown to be safe. As I researched this, however, I found that this was not so.

Cell phones had not been tested for health and safety. They had been given an exemption. Not only that, but many scientists doing research on cell phones felt they may not be safe, and many experts and doctors warn against children using them!

Wow!! That was a real shock. That certainly was not what most parents I knew thought about them. Most bought them for their kids without a second thought.

I actually couldn't believe my eyes as I read on, finding an even greater gulf between the general public's perception that cell phones are safe, and the scientific controversy and uncertainty about their health risks.

The main argument in favor of their continued use and safety seemed to be that no absolute proof existed that they were harmful!
That sounded, and still sounds, crazy to me.

I wondered, as I read, are we supposed to accept as parents that because there is no absolute proof that something might harm our children, though many experts feel it might, that we should expose our children to the product anyhow, without even being told about the risks?
Even when the product is the single highest radiation emitting retail product ever sold, as cell phones are?

I didn't think this made sense, and I felt most parents would agree, if they had seen what I had. So I decided to get the word out by writing this little book. I hope it will help at least one child be healthier, maybe even yours.

Chapter One ~ No one knows.

Now, before going any further here, I want to make one thing clear. My profession is that of a portrait artist. I paint pictures of families for a living. I am not a scientist, merely a concerned parent, and I look at things from this perspective.

While some might say this disqualifies me from having an opinion on this subject, I disagree.
I think instead that I represent the concerns of many parents as I write this, each of whose opinion is vital to the well being of their family.

And as merely a parent trying to make sense of all the information out there regarding cell phones and wireless networks, so I can decide what I think is best for my family, I actually feel I have an advantage when writing this, because what I might lack in scientific training, I make up in objectivity.

Unlike so many people who are financially tied up in this business, I have absolutely no concern except what is best for my family.

Having said this, and having researched this issue for hundreds of hours now, simply from this perspective of a concerned parent trying to educate himself to make a wise choice for his family, I firmly believe that it is too great a risk to give my child a cell phone, and recommend that no child be allowed to use a cell phone except rarely and in emergencies.

I also feel it is likely that if health testing was done before cell phones were put into use, that they would not be allowed for children, or perhaps for anyone, as currently designed. That is my conclusion, and this book is written largely from this perspective.

I am not alone, however. Similar concerns are now showing up in many places. Cell phone use by children is being warned against all around the globe.

For example:

Sir William Stewart of the English National Radiological Protection Board has warned that children should only use cell phones in emergencies.

The French government has warned its citizens to reduce children's telephone calls to no more than six minutes.

In Japan, it is now illegal to use a cell phone on a train, due to concerns of second hand radiation.
The list goes on.

In Canada, the Toronto Public Health's chief medical officer has advised children use land lines, limit their time on cell phone calls, and use headsets.

Germany, Belgium, Israel, and India are also advising children limit their use of cell phones.

In Russia, any use by children under the age of 18 is advised against.

I am not making this up!

In America, however, the government position has tended to be that this exposure of its country's children to cell phone use "is all perfectly safe", despite an utter lack of current research funding.

That this advice has been coming from the same government that was certain of the deep need to start a war in Iraq due to the presence of imminent threat from weapons of mass destruction, which did not exist, and the government which deregulated the financial markets, leading to the current world financial crisis, was not comforting to me as a parent.

It still is not.

Indeed, having weakened government health and environmental protection agencies, and a deregulated, aggressive private telecom sector, spurred on by huge income from cell phones, in charge of how much radiation my son is exposed to from a cell phone, does not create a deep sense of trust for me that "all is perfectly safe".

Instead, I have come to feel, despite my generally trusting the government to do well, that we American parents, for now and until further, conclusive research is done, are essentially on our own.

We are, however, never totally alone so long as we look at what is really happening together, and willing to speak the truth.

And what is the truth?

Well, as best I can tell, the truth is that no one has any business telling you that cell phones are safe, for you, or your children, because they simply do not know. No one does. The long term just science isn't in, as they say.

Simply put, cell phones have not been health tested for people, and some who have done research on these products believe they may be a massive health threat, especially for children.

Chapter Two ~ Cell Phones, some history

The idea for cell phones had been present way back, from as long ago as the daily comic strips with Flash Gordon and his wrist phone. Phones that did not need to be plugged in!

What an amazing thing, then, when in the mid 1980's, the amazing world of technology made the leap from science fiction to daily life.

Cell phones, and the cellular antennae towers necessary to connect them, miraculously appeared, and though generally limited to cars, and very expensive to start with, they were an immediate life changer.

By 1987, over a million phones were in service. Business men could be in touch with clients 24/7. Efficiency increased across the board in many fields. Almost over night, the cell phone became an essential part of many people's lives.

Even then, though, concerns existed as to how they were being powered. The technology was steadily increasing in terms of getting the phones to work well, fueled by great financial demand for what the phones offered in efficiency and communication for businesses and individuals, but far less research was being done on a less discussed issue. Were these new phones, run by microwave radiation, actually SAFE?

It was a question a burgeoning industry, driven by dazzling profits and new technological advances might have been less than enthusiastic to ask. Nevertheless, in time, enough questions were asked of them that a special research group was set up to look into the safety of the cell phones.

Dr. George Carlo, a health scientist and epidemiologist, was picked to run a $28 million cell phone research program from 1993 through 2001. Did he find that all was well?

No.

The research, industry sponsored, suggested a possible cell phone cancer link. Carlo warned of increased brain tumors and other health concerns. The companies chose to fire him rather than to listen to him and make sure their product was safe.

In other words, the chief scientist that the cell phone industry picked to run their health study told them that cell phones might well be dangerous, and the industry went ahead and sold them anyway.

And they were fantastically successful. By 1996 cell phones were saturating the country, and legislation was passed, the Telecommunications Act, that even made it illegal to protest the placement of a cell tower due to health concerns. Cell phones, and the towers that allowed them to exist, were here to stay.

One might ask, of course, if the cellular radiation from the towers were safe, why would such legislation be necessary? And why should federal law be necessary to pre-empt local towns from their usual zoning jurisdiction?

Many feel this law in unconstitutional, yet to this day, in America, it is illegal for a town deciding whether or not to grant a permit to a telecom to build a cell tower, to even discuss the possible health concerns of the new placement.

Does that sound American to you?

If not, you are not alone.

Chapter Three ~ Studies tell the story.

Expansion of the cell phone market continued dramatically, and American government funding for research dried up as huge government profits from selling bandwidth rights to cell phone companies help to balance 1990's budgets. Nevertheless, the cell phone controversy raged on.
Private researchers, concerned with the health issues that had been raised, began pioneering research, looking into the health issues surrounding cell phones, filling in, in part, for the lack of government studies.

One such researcher was Dr. Henry Lai of the University of Washington. In the mid-1990s, Lai published findings of DNA damage in rats exposed to relatively low levels of the kind of radiation cell phones produce.

Also, Dr Neil Cherry of New Zealand concluded in the late 1990's saw indications that cell phone users were getting more brain tumors.

Lai has also looked at 319 laboratory or clinical studies conducted on cell phones worldwide, and found that 56% have shown a biological effect in cells or animals exposed to RF radiation, indicating possible risk.

However, many others feel, there is no risk. Several large studies have found no link between cancer and cell phone use. Many big names do not feel there is an established proof of danger, including the American Cancer Society, the FCC and the World Health Organization.

The FCC states that:

"There is no scientific evidence that proves that wireless phone usage can lead to cancer or a variety of other problems, including headaches, dizziness or memory loss. The weight of scientific evidence has not linked cell phones with any health problems. There is no proof, however, that wireless phones are absolutely safe,"

The American Cancer Society adds that “the evidence is quite extensive, but incomplete in important ways. For instance, more studies are needed on the long-term effects of children's cell phone use.”

As I tried to sort all this out, from my perspective as a parent, I was confused. Why so many contradictory reports? I wanted to believe all was well, as it would certainly be better if the phones are safe.

But I was not sure. I had heard enough of the work of early researchers who saw problems to want to hear more opinions, and see what actual research and studies were being done.
After all, governments and the science community had been wrong about cigarettes, asbestos, DDT, Bisphenol A, and a lot of other things that had been allowed to be sold to the public.

So I looked further. In doing so I found:

~Multiple studies showing increases in infertility (reduced sperm counts) for male cell phone users. The sperm decreased more if the phones were used more.

~A UCLA study in which pregnant women that used cell phones gave birth to children with greater hyperactivity, and this increased if they used the phone after the child was born.

~A recent study from Sweden showing that people who begin using mobile phones before age 20 are more than five times as likely to develop a malignant brain tumor.

~ A huge multi country study called "Interphone", which was set up to settle the argument once and for all, and which has not been released for several years now because the researchers can't agree on the results.

~A Wayne State study showing sleep disturbances for people exposed to only three hours of cell phone radiation.

~ A chilling image, showing radiation from a cell phone penetrating nearly the entire brain of a five year old child. It penetrated much of the brain of a ten year old as well, yet only a small part of the brain of an adult.

If there is a problem from the radiation of cell phones, as many researchers and studies suggest, children certainly appear to be at greater risk.

Recent opinions of experts enforced these ideas:

~Children should not use cell phones except in emergencies, one of the top cancer researchers in the field, Dr Robert Herberman, warned recently, based on unpublished studies he has seen.

~One of the world's top brain surgeons, Mayo Clinic trained Dr Vini Gautam Khurana, has recently said that he feels cell phones will kill more humans than cigarettes.

So there is a clearly a controversy, as many experts feel they are safe, and many do not.
But for me, as a parent, the idea that they "might" be safe, or are "unlikely to be harmful" isn't good enough, and I doubt if it is for you.

After all, it is highly unlikely that a young child will be hurt in any given car ride, but you I bet you still have them use a seatbelt.

Simply because cell phones are considered "likely" to be safe by those making money from them, or even by the FCC and WHO, who are deeply respected organizations, but who have been wrong before, doesn't do it for me.

No, my opinion, when it comes to my family, a product needs to be considered safe beyond a reasonable doubt for me to feel comfortable with my family using it.

And after seeing these studies, and hearing these experts’ opinions, I wasn't feeling comfortable.

Chapter Four: Conclusions of a concerned parent

While all this research was interesting, and alarming, I still was hoping to personally get an expert's perspective on it all.

So, I contacted the FCC and they sent me a list of consultants that they recommend people ask about radiation safety.

I had a chance to speak confidentially with one of these experts. I can't share who I spoke with, but I can share what he said.

He said that he would never buy his teen-age daughter a cell phone, based on what he had seen about cell phones and health.

That was good enough for me. An expert in the field, recommended by the FCC, with no stake in what he said to me for his own profit, said "no way" to getting his own daughter a cell phone!

That was when the idea that they might be considered safe beyond a reasonable doubt ended for me. To me, cell phones clearly are not currently safe for children beyond a reasonable doubt.

As a result of this I have made the decision to have my family only use a cell phone for infrequent and emergency calls.

I ask you, as a loving parent, friend or family member, who cared enough to buy and read this, why take any unnecessary risk with the most precious thing in the world, our children?

Please listen to the advice of many experts and consider dramatically limiting your child's cell phone use, and if you are concerned about this issue, do something public about it.

Tell your friends with children. Contact your local PTA, your pediatrician, local groups, your elected representatives. The more people know, the better chance a child will be helped.

Using a cell phone might be far more dangerous than smoking, or riding without a seatbelt, or many other things we would never let our children do.

Please consider changing your family's habits if they involve regular cell phone use by a child. Please tell your friends and neighbors that it is not certain that "all is perfectly safe".

If cell phones are dangerous to children's health, we may see a horrendous amount of illness for the generation that is growing up using these phones, unless we share this information, and demand proper and exhaustive testing on the long term health effects of cell phone use by children.

Until then, I believe, as I concerned parent, that we are better off not taking the chance, no matter how inconvenient it may be to say "no" to continued regular cell phone use by our kids.

What to do

~Limit cell phone use among children under the age of 18 to rare occasional use, and emergency calls only.

~Have children use "speaker phone", keeping the phone away from their heads. This is better than a headset, which can carry radiation to the head.

~Don't ever let very young children talk on cell phones. Don't use a cell phone while near a young child, or when pregnant, except in emergencies.

~Get a phone with less radiation. Radiation "SAR" levels are available for each phone.

~Ask your government representatives to research cell phone safety, to end cell phone advertising to children, and to inform the people of possible risks.

There is a controversy, and children may not be being protected by the government which we have entrused with their care. Ask questions of candidates, hold the government responsible for their actions. If you can, vote. It is your government!

~Ask your pediatrician what he thinks. Many doctors will agree that children should not regularly use cell phones.

~ Keep up to date on what new studies are being done.

~ Talk with teachers and other community leaders. Make this an issue of discussion at PTA meetings and other places that can make a difference.

~ Support the idea of a small tax on cell phone bills to fund research for health and safety testing

~ Support the repeal of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, Section 704

~sign the petition--see link above

~And of course, most importantly, don't take my word for it. Research this yourself!

Thank you for reading, and I hope whatever you find will help you and your family.

~

This EBook is also available in print for $5 per copy from RISafewireless@gmail.com