Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/1003346
Alarming new research indicates that children and teenagers are five times more likely to get brain cancer if they use cell phones. The study is raising fears that today's young people may suffer an epidemic of the disease in later life. The Swedish research was reported this month at the first international conference on cell phones and health. It came from a further analysis of data from one of the biggest studies carried out on the cell phone/cancer link, headed by Professor Lennart Hardell. Professor Hardell told the conference that "people who started mobile phone use before the age of 20" had more than five-fold increase in glioma, a cancer of the glial cells that support the central nervous system. The risk to young people from household cordless phones was almost as great. Cordless phones caused a fourfold increase in risk. Young cell phone users were also five times more likely to get acoustic neuromas, disabling tumors of the auditory nerve that often cause deafness. It doesn't get much clearer than this. If you allow your children to use a cell phone they could very well end up with brain cancer in 10 or 20 years. Is the inconvenience of protecting yourself from a mobile phone with a headset or speakerphone really worth a five times increased risk of this deadly disease? Cell Phones Raise CHILDREN'S Risk of BRAIN CANCER 500 Percent! Apparently many people think so (or more likely are not aware that the risk exists) as in Britain at least nine out of 10 16-year-olds -- and 40 percent of primary schoolchildren -- have their own cell phone. In 2005, the British-based National Radiological Protection Board suggested children younger than age 8 should not be given a cell phone as it risks exposing their young bodies to harmful radiation. According to a University of Washington scientist: 70 percent to 80 percent of the energy emitted from the antenna of a mobile phone is absorbed in your head. This expert was particularly concerned about kids using mobiles because their younger skulls are thinner and their growing brains much more susceptible to radiation exposure. Last year, a scientific review of 11 studies found that using your cell phone for 10 years or longer will double your risk of getting a tumor on a nerve connecting your ear to your brain. And earlier this year Toronto's department of public health warned that because of possible side effects from radio frequency radiation, children under 8 should only use a cell phone in emergencies, and teenagers should limit calls to less than 10 minutes. The U.K., Belgium, Germany, France and Russia have also introduced precautionary policies regarding cell phone usage due to potential health risks. We are already on the verge of a cell-phone-induced brain cancer epidemic. If lots of people don't start heeding these warnings, it could grow to over two million cases in the United States alone by 2020. Page 10 | Abby's Magazine - www.AbbysHealthAndNutrition.com