The 411 On An Old Healh Scare Revived by Congress
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), the new head of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions promised on Monday to probe deeply into any potential links between cell phone use and cancer. This issue has been extensively studied, particularly in Scandinavian countries where cell phone manufacturers such as Nokia and Ericson are headquartered. Each study to date has found no statistically significant association between cell phone use and cancer, including brain cancer.
However, there are still some who attribute brain cancer to cell phones on the theory that radio waves, a form of radiation, damage brain cells. The debate comes on the heels of the 1980's and 1990's controversy regarding the potential adverse health effects of electromagnetic fields EMFs emanating from power lines. While studies cleared EMFs they implicated population mixing likely via some sub-clinical infection as a cause of cancer in children. More on population mixing to come.
