“30% of all childhood cancers are associated with EMF exposure. Doctors from the United Kingdom have issued warnings urging children under 16 not to use cell phones. High frequency EMF waves lead to significant increase in blood pressure. Even though it is universally accepted that electro magnetic radiations emitted from mobile phones is bound to affect the health and well being of the user. They tend to ignore the dangers, as people have become totally dependent on mobile phones and life today will come to a standstill without it. We are subjecting ourselves and our loved ones to this external stressor day in and day out.”
— Dr. David Carpenter, Dean at the School of Public Health State University of New York
Dr Andrew Tan, a specialist in nuclear medicine and consultant at Raffles Hospital in Singapore, says the risk of mobile phone radiation cannot be dismissed. “Mobile phones cannot be completely avoided, and the risk of use has to be balanced against practical realities,” he says. “I would advise against … prolonged use of mobile phones.”
Tan cites the important and extensive Interphone study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology in 2010, which investigated the possible carcinogenic effects of mobile phone radiation. Heavy users (an average of 30 minutes daily for 10 years) had an increased risk of such brain tumours of 10 per cent to 40 percent more than people in general. However, this result was also inconclusive, since there was a high risk of recall bias and errors. “It is mainly because of this study that the IACR classified mobile phone electromagnetic radiation as potentially cancer-causing, in which the risk is credible, but errors cannot be ruled out,” says Tan.