Over the past few years researchers have attempted to pin cellular phones as the culprits behind cancer, brain tumors and even attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
According to a study released in Marchexposure to cell phones is more dangerous to a person’s health than smoking cigarettes.
But while headlines caution readers to only use hands-free phones, be wary of cell phones if pregnant and switch the off button when trying to sleep, most results of studies have come back inconclusive of the risks.
Jim Potchen, chairman of MSU’s Department of Radiology, said researchers have not established anything further than hypotheses on the subject of cell phone health risks.
“Cell phones giving people cancer just doesn’t pan out,” he said. “The energy produced by a cell phone is not significant enough to change anything about the cells in the brain.”
Shelly Kalnitsky, the editor of Cell Phone Radiation News Bureau and manufacturer of WaveShield anti-radiation products for phones, holds a different view.
He said anyone who says cell phones are safe must be receiving funding from cell phone companies themselves.
“People try and deny the problems because cell phones are such a big business,” said Kalnitsky, who has been in the cell phone health research business for more than eight years.
He said the products he has developed for cell phones, including the WaveShield 1000, help block 99 percent of the radiation from cell phone antennas from entering the ear.
“Everyone’s using wired headsets or Bluetooth technology, but those still show evidence of being dangerous,” Kalnitsky said. “With our technology for hands-free phone use, using air tubes instead of wires, radiation can be cut 100 percent.”
This cut may not really be needed, as Potchen said the amount of energy and radiation released from a hand-held phone is no more than ambient, or background, energy people are exposed to every day.
“Any effects of that level of electromagnetic energy on malignancies in the brain, for one, are not likely,” Potchen said.
“And the only reason the phones would keep you from sleeping is when people send you text messages all night long.”
MSU students had their own ideas about the safety risks and social implications of an abundance of cell phone use during the day.
Angelo Flowers, a psychology and premedical sophomore, said he could see where the amount of multitasking people do throughout a typical day could possibility lead to an unborn child developing ADHD.
“Everyone’s always trying to multitask so much,” said Flowers, who admitted being unable to text and talk at the same time.
As for cancer or brain tumors, Flowers said he is not worried about the risks some researchers describe.
“If phones were really cancerous, they wouldn’t be on the market,” Flowers said.
“Especially with Bluetooth and BlackBerry phones, I don’t believe they could be dangerous to your brain. I’m not worried at all about dying from any kind of phone cancer.”
East Lansing resident Maya Fischhoff said she has heard about some of the reported risks of cell phone use and believes some of them could be true.
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“I do still use my cell phone, and can’t say it’s affected my use of it yet,” Fischhoff said. “But if more reports were confirmed, I would start to find other ways to communicate with people.”
Though researchers continue to look into possible harmful effects of cell phones, Potchen said other activities and habits have the potential to be much more harmful than talking on or sleeping near cell phones.
“Leaving a huge carbon footprint or not being able to control excessive eating habits, these are health risks to worry about,” Potchen said.
“Everything is a potential risk, but cell phones are definitely a low one.”
