21 April 2008

Mobile phones and head health

| Myrmecia
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After a report in the Canberra Times a few weeks ago on local research by Canberra neurosurgeon Vini Khurana on the health effects of mobile phones, the following two comments were posted on the CT website:

Posted By: BT Survivor Friday, 11 April 2008
6 years since the 1st brain tumour op. and 6 months since the 2nd. Yep right front temporal lobe right beside where I used to hold the mobile. During both stays in hospital I asked the nurses anecdotally if they had noticed any changes to the patients, ALL said the patients were getting younger and all nurses point to heads beside ears and hips while saying tumours are getting more specific. Temporal lobes cos that where we hold the phone and around hips cos that where men keep their phone.. on their belt or in their trouser pocket.
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Posted By: – Monday, 7 April 2008
As one of the people who used mobile phones extensively for many years, I found out late last year that I had a brain tumour – same side of the head that I used the mobile phone….I have now made a full recovery thanks to Vini Khurana’s expertise. Canberra is lucky to have him and I am not about to wait 10 to 20 years to see which side of the debate is right. I am taking precautions now – no more mobile phones to my head….I applaud Vini for trying to give all of us fair warning about the possibilities of links between mobile telephony and brain tumours. Taking that advice is certainly less harmful than the surgery and recovery process.
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Any RA users with similar or related experiences?

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Julius Constantius12:52 pm 05 May 08

I injected heroin but I don’t have flaky scalp disease or cancer. Anyway about the mobile phone and cancer issue, This is some of the information that I’m aware of.

Cell phones use radiowaves to carry information between callers. The frequency of these waves ranges from about 850-1900 megahertz (MHz), which is somewhere between the frequencies used by FM radio stations and microwave ovens. The higher the frequencies, the greater the energy carried by the waves.

While waves of higher energies can heat living tissues enough to cause damage, the heat generated by cell phones is so small that few scientists believe they can do any damage to human users.

Despite numerous studies, there is no convincing evidence that digital cell phone use causes brain tumors. However, some studies suggest that cell phone use may increase the rate of tumor growth in patients with certain types of brain tumors that already existed. Also, some of the earliest studies of large groups of cell phone users found that analog cell phones may have slightly increased the risk of developing brain tumors.

Although few people today use analog cell phone technology, and digital cell phones appear to be safe for the vast majority of users, there is no way to know the long-term health consequences of frequent cell phone use. Let’s face it, though. This small, lingering risk is highly unlikely to inhibit most members of a society that has become obsessed with its ability to communicate with everyone, all the time.

This fond this infor on a site and i find it rather scary.

Spending hours on a mobile phone each day may affect the quality of a man’s sperm, preliminary US research suggests.

In a study of 361 men seen at their infertility clinic, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found an association between the patients’ mobile phone use and their sperm quality.

On average, the more hours the men spent on their mobile phones each day, the lower their sperm count and the greater their percentage of abnormal sperm.

The findings, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, add to questions about the potential health effects of mobile phones and other wireless devices.

Some studies, for example, have linked long-term mobile phone use to a higher risk of brain tumours, though many other studies have found no such connection.

The concern is that, over time, the electromagnetic energy emitted from mobile phones could theoretically harm body tissue – by damaging DNA, for example.

However, the new findings do not prove that mobile phones somehow damage sperm, according to the researchers.

“Our results show a strong association of cell phone use with decreased semen quality. However, they do not prove a cause-and- effect relationship,” lead researcher Dr Ashok Agarwal said.

He and his colleagues based their findings on semen samples from 361 men who came to their infertility clinic over one year.

All of the men were questioned about their mobile phone habits.

In general, the researchers found, sperm count and sperm quality tended to decline as daily mobile phone hours increased.

Men who said they used their phones for more than four hours each day had the lowest average sperm count and the fewest normal, viable sperm.

“We infer from our results that heavy cell phone use … is associated with a lower semen quality,” Agarwal said.

But whether mobile phones somehow directly affect men’s fertility is not clear.

Agarwal said he and his colleagues have two studies underway aiming to shed light on the issue.

In one, they are exposing semen samples to electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones to see what, if any, effects occur.

The second is a follow-up to the current study that is assessing a larger group of men.

Agarwal said this study is more rigorously designed and will account for certain other factors like lifestyle habits and occupational exposures that might affect sperm quality.

A recent risk ranking system devised by an Australian cancer specialist, has determined that mobile phones – along with drinking coffee and having breast implants – are unlikely to cause cancer.

I juggle tiger snakes while using my mobile phone, and I haven’t got cancer yet either.

Thalidomide is actually still legal, sepi. It’s just contraindicated in pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Still a useful drug, it’s often used today in the treatment of leprosy complications and a few other conditions that don’t respond to first-line treatments.

Comes in a 50mg white capsule under the brand name “Thalidomide Pharmion” in Australia, in case you’re interested 😉

Thalidomide? Mmm…Thalicious.

Thalidomide was legal once too.

Microwaves, low intensity. Microwave ovens emit a much higher intensity of radiation and the myth that standing near the microwave, especially when pregnant, leads to gene mutations and/or birth defects has been thoroughly disproved. Mobile phones emit similar frequency waves at a much lower intensity. Admittedly we hold them directly to our heads rather than standing a few feet away, but the amount of radiation we’re getting is lower than that from a microwave oven.

With respect to Dr Khurana, he’s a brain surgeon, not a cell biology researcher. He cuts out cancers all the time presumably, but when he does one research article on a topical subject (which didn’t show very strong statistical values, by the way), he makes world headlines. Good on him for making Canberra known to the world, but shame on him for making people stress unnecessarily about the risk of a putative future cancer.

All governments I know of do not consider mobile phone radiation to be carcinogenic, that’s why phones are legal. Plenty of research has been done on the subject, and the verdict is that phones have nil to minimal ability to precipitate cancer, despite what Dr Khurana believes.

On the other hand, stress is a prime risk factor for heart disease, which is by far the number one killer in this country (and all developed nations for that matter). It’s also a major risk factor for stroke, another cardiovascular disease which, after cancer, is the third highest killer in Australia. Dr Khurana is making a fuss about nothing, but his words are going to make people worry. Mothers are going to be concerned that their children may develop cancer, purely based on his words. Higher stress levels in the community will logically lead to higher numbers of heart attacks and strokes…

…and then Dr Khurana might find that he’s seeing more blood clots in his patients’ brains than he’s seeing tumours!

I use a mobile several times a day, and I am a fat bastard.

Coincidence? I think not!

adeptacheese4:41 pm 21 Apr 08

EtFb said :

I know several people who used to come up with anecdotal evidence for things, and they died!

i pressed the comments button to post this exactly and there it is as post #1

I smoke and have not got a cancer yet.

I use a mobile phone regularly and have not got a brain tumor yet.

I know several people who used to come up with anecdotal evidence for things, and they died!

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