Cell phones and cancer: Alarmism or a real wake-up call?
Story by CNN
8:49 a.m. Thursday, July 24, 2008
A cancer specialist recently told his employees to watch their minutes.
University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Dr. Ronald Herberman recently sent out an advisory to UPCI staff on cell phone usage and their possible link to cancer.
"It's making me second guess my cell phone use and definitely the cell phone use of my children," one staff member said.
Herberman says he's become increasingly concerned with the data pointing to the hazards of cell phones and the electromagnetic waves reaching parts of the brain.
"This potentially could contribute to increased risk for developing brain tumors particularly in the area of the brain that's close to the ear," he said.
"There's no debate that the cell signal gets into the brain. And, it gets more deeply into the brain in children than it does to adults," said UP Center for Environmental Oncology Dr. Devra Davis.
Children's brains are still developing.
Amid the suggestions to limiting exposure: Don't allow children to use a cell phone except in an emergency, use speaker phone or Bluetooth which has less electromagnetic emissions, text when you can and avoid carrying your cell phone on your body.
The research is still controversial, but that doesn't dissuade UP professors.
"We run the risk that we are exposing ourselves and our children to something that later on is going to increase their risk of brain cancer," Davis said. "I don't think that's a smart thing to do."
No other major academic cancer research institutions have sounded an alarm about cell phone use.
More studies are being done.
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