Consumer Rating Cell Phone Plans

Cell phones and cancers seem to be in the news all the time. Which is the truth in this story is difficult to say, now that almost everyone uses cell phones and all over the world billions of people are pressing this devices against their heads for hours everyday. The estimated numbers for the U.S. market are for at least 100 million cell phone users for 2002 with a rising tendency in the following years. The question raised about this issue is whether cell phones really cause brain tumors, or is this a media panic-du-jour? Of course, media contributes a great deal to raising awareness about certain products but is also hysterogenic when it comes to diseases, viruses and other health issues.

Now, you probably know that cell phones, as household cordless telephones, use a low level of microwave radiation to send and receive signals, Microwaves are also used to cook, to warm or to roast food, as the tissue is being penetrated by the radiation. Anyway, the current debate about cell phones revolves around the question ‘are they really a problem for us?’, and from here on you will find a variety of pro and con opinions.

Some of the researchers in the field say that cell phones are dangerous because of microwaves emissions, and mostly because the source of the emission is being held against the brain. Another opinions result from the claims of certain people of having had brain tumors in the exact size, shape and position as the antenna on their cell phones.

Other researchers claim that cell phones are in fact quite safe because they use a very low level of radio frequency energy, too low to actually cause damage. Another aspect is that the type of energy emitted is non-ionizing, which leads to the impossibility of causing damage to chemical bounds or DNA. In the same time, hundreds of millions of people have been using mobile phone or cordless telephones for years and there haven`t been reported problems, or anyway effects should have been seen by now.

There are even more radical voices in the field supporting the theory that mobile phones are more dangerous than smoking. Brain experts warn about the rising percent in tumors, calling on the industry to take urgent measures in reducing radiation. An Indian award-winning cancer expert claims that cell phones could kill more people than smoking or asbestos. He advises people to avoid using this devices as much as possible, in the same time asking the governments and the cell phone manufacturers to have serious initiatives in reducing the exposure to this type of radiation.

The study concludes that using handsets for ten years or more can double the risk of developing brain cancer, as cancers take at least a decade to grow, invalidating official safety assurances based on some previous studies that apparently used irrelevant sampling procedures. It is also true that some countries agreed to take initiatives in this sense, and this is the case of the French government warning about the use of such devices, especially for children or Germany, advising population to minimize the use of cell phones. The European Environment Agency has also called for a reduced exposure to radiation.

Even though mobile phones can be very useful in saving lives in emergencies, there still are increasing evidences that link cell phones usage and certain brain tumors. The incidence of malignant brain tumors and the associated death rate are expected to grow within a decade from now, targeting a broader public than smoking (1 billion), as 3 billions people currently use mobile devices.