Are mobile phones dangerous?

Emerging research shows you might as well if you talk on your mobile phone in unsafe ways. Here, the truth about the link between mobile radiation and serious health problems – and how you can minimise your risk

By Alice Ellis
Photography by Kent Mathews

Here at WH, we’re guilty of sceptically cross-examining those new health studies on mobile phones.

When we hear about the alleged health crimes of our favourite handheld devices, we’ve always focused on the more-research needs-to-be-done part. Innocent until proven guilty and all that. And when we polled you, our reader, on which health concerns most worry you when it comes to mobile use, 42 per cent of said you didn’t give it much thought. But are we taking the same attitude smokers took back in the ’50s when they refused to believe cigarettes were anything other than cool? We dug a little deeper to find out...

Unfortunately for all of us, incriminating evidence keeps mounting against mobiles. The multinational 10-year Interphone study, released this year and led by the International Agency for Cancer Research to examine the link between mobile radiation and cancer, concluded that while mobiles don’t increase the chance of cancer overall, just 30 minutes of daily talk time over 10 years ups your risk of glioma – a type of brain tumour – by 40 per cent.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that mobile and related technologies are the new smoking, asbestos and lead put together,” says Lyn McLean, author of The Force: Living Safely in a World of Electromagnetic Radiation (to be released soon by Scribe) and director of EMR (Electromagnetic Radiation) Australia, which offers solutions to radiation issues. “That’s because those other pollutants affected mainly the person using them, whereas this technology is irradiating the planet. And it’s the first time we’ve had pollution of this magnitude that’s so invisible and pervasive.”

Whether or not it’s been proved beyond reasonable doubt that our phones are seriously hazardous to our health, the balance of probabilities is that they are dangerous. The good news: you don’t need to sentence your phone to life imprisonment – there are steps you can take to reduce your risk from radiation.

We dialled up experts so you can use your phone in a safer way. But first, a bit of background info…

Why they’re dangerous

To start, a brief rundown of radiation science, courtesy of Dr Bruce Wedding, a physicist at the University of South Australia’s School of Electrical and Information Engineering: “Radiation is essentially the emission or transfer of energy anywhere in the universe. This energy can take different forms, for example: sound waves, atomic or nuclear decay particles or [electromagnetic radiation].”

Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) covers everything from the visible light that radiates from a light bulb to the UV rays emitted by the sun and the microwaves that heat your minestrone. Different types of EMR carry different amounts of energy (or frequencies), which are charted on the electromagnetic spectrum. At one end of the spectrum are harmless, low-frequency waves, like the signals our radios and TVs pick up. On the other are high-frequency waves, like X-rays, which can mess with your body by breaking up the structure of your cells. Around the middle of the spectrum are “microwaves” (aka “non-thermal radio frequency radiation” or “RF”), the type of radiation emitted by mobile and cordless phones, wireless routers and, yep, microwave ovens.

While microwave frequencies correspond to relatively low-energy waves when compared to high-frequency X-rays, Dr Wedding says, “One of the concerns with mobile phones is that the phone itself has to emit an RF signal strong enough to be received by a communications tower some distance away. Since the radiation intensity decreases rapidly with distance from the source, the intensity received by the user when the phone [the emitter of the radiation] is held to the ear is much, much greater than that received even just a short distance away.”

So how does this affect your health? “The problem is that RF can transfer energy waves into your body and disrupt its normal functioning,” says Cindy Sage, an environmental consultant and public policy researcher from the US who’s led more than 1000 studies on electromagnetic fields. “Here’s why that’s crucial: overwhelming evidence shows that RF can cause DNA damage, and DNA damage is a precursor to cancer.”

The scariest part: since this type of radiation oozes from wireless internet connections as well as phones – which nowadays connect to wireless internet – we’re potentially getting irradiated from all angles. “Never before have we gone from one radiated environment to another,” says Dr Kerry Crofton, author of Wireless Radiation Rescue ($25.50, booktopia.com.au). “We’re going to wireless offices and living in wireless homes. Even beaches and parks are wireless. We’re exposed everywhere.”

The latest research

Not everyone agrees that RF radiation emitted by phones causes cancer and other nasties – something you’ve probably taken comfort in when you felt your ear heating up while debriefing on a first date. Well, your thoughts are backed by the World Health Organisation’s stance: “To date, no adverse health effects have been established for mobile phone use.” Though, in a report released in May this year, the organisation admitted, “Given the large number of mobile phone users, it is important to investigate, understand and monitor any potential public health impact”; and “Studies are ongoing to assess potential long-term effects of mobile phone use”.

New research on the matter always sparks controversy. Some groups read the results of the Interphone study as a green light for wireless calling – despite it finding talk time can up your glioma risk – because the researchers referred to the results as inconclusive. Deja vu much?

Others, like Dr Crofton and McLean, point out that, since the Interphone study began a decade ago – before we spent hours a day talking, texting, googling, GPS-ing, Facebooking then sleeping with our personal radiation devices next to our heads – it was based on the premise that 30 minutes of talk time a day was heavy usage. “The Interphone study only looked at people who’d been using phones for relatively short periods of time, and they were classified as ‘high users’,” says McLean. “Today people use their mobiles for much more, so if those sorts of studies are showing increased tumour risk, what are we going to be seeing in the future, when we’ve had greater use and children are using them from young ages?”

Not all study results sound inconclusive. In 2008, Australian neurosurgeon Dr Vini Khurana announced the link between mobile use and cancer was irrefutable – the result of his analysis of more than 100 studies. Use one for 10 years plus, he said, and you increase your risk of a malignant brain tumour by two to four times. (To put this in context, from birth, women have a 0.54 per cent lifetime risk of developing a primary malignant brain/central nervous system tumour, so to up that by two to four times, that risk becomes 1.08 to 2.16 per cent.)

An Israeli study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found people who use their phones more than 22 hours a month – less than an hour a day – are nearly 50 per cent more likely to develop a tumour of the parotid gland – a salivary gland. And a reanalysis of figures from six previous studies conducted this year by the Environmental Health Trust in the US concluded that a number of previous studies “underestimated” the risks. They found mobile talkers are up to five times more likely to develop brain tumours than those who stick to landlines (remember those?) and that tumours are much more common on the side of the head people usually hold their phones.

Our little brains

The results are even more alarming when you consider who’s talking now – last year, 23 per cent of Aussie kids aged nine to 11 owned a mobile. Swedish research found under 20s had more than a fivefold rise in tumours if they used a mobile, and a fourfold increase for cordless phones. And the possible association with childhood leukemia spurred the International Agency for Research on Cancer to classify them a “possible human carcinogen”. “We are very concerned about teen [mobile] phone use, fearing that we face an epidemic of brain tumours 10 to 20 years from now,” says Dr David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and Environment at the University at Albany,US.

Why it’s being ignored

If our fave gadgets are a death threat, why haven’t we been warned to hang them up? There are more reasons than billing options. “These phones are presented as necessary, socially desirable technology,” says McLean. “We’re influenced by that. The message that radiation might be dangerous is therefore unwelcome.” And most brain tumours have a long latency period – up to 25 years – points out Nicole Bijlsma, a building biologist (they assess a building’s health by conducting things like electro-magnetic field tests) and author of Healthy Home Healthy Family. “When you consider that the widespread use of mobile phones has only occurred in the past 10 years, the causal relationship between the two has been questionable – at least until recently,” she says.

Some European countries have stricter regulations on telecoms – as well as banning mobiles from primary schools and the advertising of phones to kids, France is also prohibiting wireless technology from many public places. In Sweden, buildings have been coated with shielding that buffers RF. And, says Bijlsma,

“Swiss and Russian limits for radio frequency and microwave radiation exposures are up to 100 times stricter than the US, Australia and Western Europe.”

“There are good things happening in parts of the world,” says McLean. “But Australia seems to be lagging behind.”

Minimise the risks

It seems the jury is going to be out for a while, but in meantime it’s worth erring on the side of caution. So, enough with the alarming stuff. Here’s what you can do to reduce the potential risks from your other type of vibrator…
Turn it off whenever possible Although the RF is stronger when you’re talking or texting, mobiles don’t just radiate when in use. “[They] give off radiation any time they’re turned on so they can communicate with base stations,” says Dr Lou Bloomfield, a professor of physics and author of How Everything Works.

Store it away from your body Radiation exposure drops off slowly for the first eight to 10cm from your body, and then falls dramatically, says Dr Bloomfield.

Text instead of calling Since you hold the phone further from your body, letting your finger do the talking is safer, says Dr Carpenter.

Talk hands-free “Never hold a mobile next to your ear or in your pocket, or anywhere near your body. Instead, use it as a speakerphone, or use a hands-free kit,” says McLean. Choose a corded headset – not a wireless one. And Dr Khurana recommends holding the phone about 20cm away from you when using.

Avoid bluetooth devices “They’re creating another risk – bluetooth operates using [RF], so you’re exposing yourself to the radiation from bluetooth plus the radiation from your mobile,” says McLean.

Use it only with strong reception The Israeli study found tumour risk was even higher in rural areas. This is because the further you are from a tower, the harder your handset has to work to get a signal and the more RF it emits, says Dr Carpenter.

Don’t leave it on during sleep Switch mobiles off when the lights go out. Cancer risks aside, the radiation may disturb your sleep, according to a study by Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and Wayne State University in the US. If your phone’s alarm doesn’t buzz when your handset is switched off, use an old-fashioned alarm clock.

Switch it off when you’re in a car Recent research by the Nielsen Company research found one in five Aussies admit to surfing the web on our mobiles while driving. Apart from the crash waiting to happen, your entire core is exposed to the radiation within the confines of a car, says Dr Carpenter.

Limit talk time when pregnant Research in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings found that in utero radiation exposure increased the risk of developing cancer as an adult. Sure, mobile phone and atomic bomb radiation aren’t on the same wavelength, but Dr Carpenter and Sage advise limiting mobile use when pregnant until research that’s currently looking at the reproductive repercussions of RF gives you the go ahead.

Keep it far from your partner’s crown jewels Scientists at the Center for Reproductive Medicine in the US set sperm samples in test tubes next to mobiles in talk mode for one hour. The sperm’s motility and viability were significantly reduced and levels of harmful free radicals rose. Get your bloke to store his phone in his jacket instead of his pants pocket.

Monitor your environment If you want to test RF levels in your home or work, get an EMF Safety Kit (emraustralia.com.au). It helps you identify harmful radiation fields and find safe distances from sources.

Other sources of RF radiation
CORDLESS PHONES
Think your cordless home phone is safe? Wrong. Digital enhanced cordless telecommunication (DECT) phones have become so powerful, they’re often as strong as mobiles, says Sage. She adds that studies have found that, when sitting beside a DECT phone base, some people even experience arrhythmia,
a heartbeat irregularity.

The solution It might feel retro, but “get a phone with an extra-long cord so you can still walk around”, says Dr Crofton. “They’re better, cheaper, and work in a power outage. Replace a DECT with a corded phone, [and] you cut RF levels in your home significantly.”

WIRELESS ROUTERS
Routers continuously emit high levels of RF (up to 60m out). Because of this, “if the whole body is radiated by RF emissions, the greatest concern is cancer,” says Dr Carpenter. Another warning: despite the name, laptops (when connected to wireless internet) should be nowhere near your lap.

The solutions Ditch your wireless router and plug your computer into a cable modem, says Sage. It doesn’t leak RF and is often faster and more secure. If you just can’t give up your wireless router, sit as far away from it as possible, says Dr Crofton. And turn it off at night and whenever you’re offline.

BABY MONITORS
“Baby monitors release more RF than phones do, and putting them next to a [cot] is very, very unwise,” says Dr Carpenter. He points to a recent University of Utah, US, study that shows RF radiation can penetrate almost entirely through a child’s brain, which doesn’t form completely until the early 20s. “It’s very clear from all the existing research that the younger the child is, the more vulnerable he or she is to RF radiation.”

The solutions Monitor your baby the way your parents would’ve done with you. If you absolutely must use the gadget, place it as far as possible from your offspring – at least 4m.