Cellphones & Cancer: Ring Of Truth?

I came across this article in the Forum and Review section in The Straits Times yesterday. The information in the article involves everyone in the world using cellphones, be it young or old. Cellphone radiation causes brain cancer and the world may be expecting a epidemic only from year 2030, when the brain cancer can be detected. However, by then, it would be to late for those with the brain cancer as the cancer would have reached its final and fatal stage...

Here are some of the important points of the article (or maybe you could go flip yesterday's newspaper to see for yourself). In September last year, the first International Expert Conference on Cell Phones and Health was convened in Washington. 13 countries were involved in the study of cellphone radiation called the Interphone. It was discovered that children and teenagers, aged 20 and younger, who have started using cellphones would be more likely to suffer from brain damage over the years as their brains are still maturing and their skull bones are relatively thin. Although it does not mean that adults would not suffer the same fate. Since brain tumours are known to take decades to develop, an epidemic of brain tumours would be expected as a result of widespread cellphone usage worldwide. And if it occurs, only from the 2030s. By then, it may be too late for us. A number of measures can be taken to try to prevent an epidemic from occurring in the future. Cellphone sellers must display prominently how much radiation their models emit,adults should advice children to speak less on the cellphones. Even if it is urgent to speak on the cellphone, use the speaker, earphones or just send an SMS. But the best is to just switch off the cellphone and put it as far away as possible.

So, I think we should all try to reduce our cellphone usage as much as possible, at home or at school. If everyone tries their best to reduce cellphone usage, I believe that the epidemic which the scientists predict might not occur. What do you think? Please comment.

Posted on Term 1 Week 5