We’re beginning to lose count of the amount of contradictory stories and studies claiming that mobile phones are evil human killers/totally harmless/death with an aerial, but worrying new research claims that mobiles could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos.
The claim comes from a study by an award-winning cancer expert, Dr Vini Khurana, who warns that folks should avoid using mobiles wherever possible, and urges governments and the industry to take “immediate steps” to reduce exposure to the dangerous radiation emitted by phones.
Top neurosurgeon Khurana – a man with no less than 14 awards glistening on his mantelpiece – certainly knows his onions when it comes to this mobile phone cancer research lark, publishing three dozen scientific papers on the topic.
A paper based on his latest research is currently undergoing peer-review for publication in a scientific journal, and Khurana remains confident that the cancer link will be “definitively proven” in the next decade, commenting that, “there is a significant and increasing body of evidence for a link between mobile phone usage and certain brain tumours”.
In Europe official bodies are already showing concern, with the French government warning against the use of mobile phones – especially by kids – earlier this year, and Germany advising users to cut back on mobile calls. The European Environment Agency has also called for exposures to be reduced.
“It is anticipated that this danger has far broader public health ramifications than asbestos and smoking,” said Professor Khurana, who told the Independent on Sunday that he’s basing his figures on the the fact that three billion people now use the phones worldwide, three times as many as smoke.
Not surprisingly, the Mobile Operators Association were quick to pour cold water on Khurana’s claims, dismissing the study as as “a selective discussion of scientific literature by one individual”.
The Association added that study “does not present a balanced analysis” of the published science, and “reaches opposite conclusions to the WHO and more than 30 other independent expert scientific reviews”.
With so many reports either way on issues like this is it any wonder that the general populace has no idea what the truth is. The frustrating part is that the media only have space to print short storis, rather than publish the full conclusions of the studies they quote. . . . surely providing a link to the full study paper could be acieved?
ha ha ha maybe the UK can now ban the use of Mobile and Cellular Phones in public because it’s damaging to those around you.
While we’re at it, since everything does or does not harm us, why don’t we just leave it up to the governement to take complete and total care of us?
That sounds like a great way to be safe, by giving up ALL our freedoms.
It’s time for a revolution, man. We need more hippies in the world.
Yep they knew about ciggarettes being a cancer cause for many years – only when their hospitals could not keep up with the amount of smoking illnesses did they introduce smoking bans etc.
The reality is none of is for our better well being its all to do with their own figures and have they met targets.
Once mobile phone deaths bad health issues start to damage their figures only then will they start banning people from waling around using their mobiles.
The truth is they have known about this for many years like the y have about ciggis microwaves etc etc but they choose to ignore it cos they dont wish to piss off big business which pays them to come up with st00pid ideas all the time..
I felt for a long time, it would be really interesting to find out just how much insurance the mobile phone manufacturers and network owners have taken out IN CASE it’s proven that using mobile phones is bad for your health.
The insurance world is well-trained at making sure the amount that is paid makes it worthwhile taking on the risk.
It’s simple. The larger the premium, the more money they think they might have to pay out.
Brain tumors account for 1.4% of all cancers. So even if this guy’s claims were true (which is at odds with most scientific/medical research on this topic to date), your total risk of getting cancer would only increase by 1.4% if you use a cell phone. That’s still significant, but not nearly as alarming as it sounds at first glance. And there’s a high probability this guy is just a crackpot.
when i was a kid not far from where i lived there was a missile site with radars pointing to the east (cold war days) on the perimetre of this base were huge warning signs telling all about the danger of radio waves affecting your health,several years later while on a train journey,I was reading a story about the dangers of mobile phones,sat alongside me was a BT phone engineer he agreed with the story.But as he pointen out the Government got 22 billion pounds for one year off one mobile phone company,so his thinking as if a few people died the Government would probably think the monetary return was worth the risk.
You can see the full PDF document from Dr Vini Khurana
here:
http://www.brain-surgery.us/mobph.pdf
Public cell phone usage will not be banned, to even think so would be ludicrous. The danger of cell phones greatly diminishes relative to the distance held from your head. The problem with cell phones is that it is held directly against your head. The use of speaker phone or bluetooth can greatly reduce if not eliminate your risk. Bluetooth headsets transfer a signal but it is not nearly as strong as the signal needed on cell phones to connect with towers that can be miles away.
Anom – Good point about the phone distance from the head – that would reduce possible effects.
My understanding is that the weaker the reception, the higher the power of the handset, so therefore increasing possible risk.
Exactly Simon, when you have low service your wireless radios are amplified to get the best possible reception.
It is impossible to know the effects of regular cell phone usage at this time because the effects are not overnight. To think that holding such a powerful device directly to your brain for prolonged periods of time a day is not potentially harmful is foolish. I use a bluetooth or speakerphone any time possible.