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The Danger of Mobile Phones (Part I)

Rachel Tseng

When I was back in Taiwan visiting friends and relatives, what struck me most was: almost everyone in Taiwan (except children) has a mobile phone; some of them even own two or three phones. Even though mobile phones are not a necessity to juveniles and teenagers, some parents still give their children mobile phones, as a way of showing their love. Wherever you go, people are seen talking on the phone. It was a shock to me. I returned to a small town in the United States, and noticed that there were more and more people using mobile phones. Under the sales promotion of businesses, (where the price of a mobile phone is sometimes cheaper than ordinary phones), the number of mobile phone users escalated very rapidly.

While the public indulges in the convenience and entertainment brought by this new technology, very few people are aware of the enormous amount of electromagnetic waves that emit from cellular transmission base stations, TV, microwave ovens, radio waves, radar, satellite – which are going through our bodies. Do you know the effects of all these combined, intensified radiation? If radiation can change the DNA structure, causing abrupt changes in living organisms, and further affecting the next generation, who knows when these impacts will surface, and how it will affect the children and teenagers? Nowadays, people carry mobile phones close to them. Can you imagine that as you use the mobile phone, you are actually transmitting electromagnetic waves into your brain?! (Electromagnetic wave radiation scatters in the range of 0 to 3000 GHz. In general, electromagnetic waves stand for both electromagnetic waves and microwaves, where microwave is the highest frequency of electromagnetic waves.)

For many years, many well-respected scientists over the world have explicitly told us of the possible harm caused by electromagnetic wave radiation. Dr. Stanislaw Szmigielski, a Professor of Pathology from the Department of Health and Pathology at the Warsaw Military Institute, conducted a 15-year research and found that Poland’s military officials who were exposed to electromagnetic wave radiation of “acceptable safety limit” experienced incidence of cancer two times that of ordinary people, and leukaemia, lymphoma, and chromosome damage incidence of 6 to 8 times that of ordinary people.

In 1987, Dr. Terry L. Thomas conducted various studies on American workers who were exposed to electromagnetic wave radiation. The conclusion was: their brain tumors grew significantly, with the risk level associated positively with the duration of exposure. Soma-Sarkar, a scientist from Delhi Atomic, Nuclear and Related Science Organizations and who was well-known worldwide for his research in radiation, did an experiment exposing rats to microwaves that were set to the standard level generally considered safe. The results showed that radiation caused serious genetic alterations of the DNA strands and can lead to cancer.

Dr. Henry Kues from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory exposed the eyes of primate animals to pulse-microwaves (before- thermal effect) which are similar to the microwaves from mobile phones. The results showed signs of “irreversible damage.” Sometimes medicine for glaucoma can cause damage to eyes and Dr. Kues discovered that the harm from pulse-microwaves is stronger than that from this drug. Due to Dr. Kues’ study, the standard radiation exposure level set by the Applied Science Research Center is more than 100 times safer than that in the U.S.

Dr. Henry Lai and Dr. Narenda Singh, colleagues of Dr. Kues, showed from their experiment that laboratory rats that were exposed to pulse-microwaves for two hours experienced breakages in DNA in the brain, which is generally considered a warning sign of cancer. Dr. Lai stated, “We are probably exposed to the same or even higher levels (mobile phones, for example) of radiation. It took only 2 hours to have an effect on animals, and yet we are using mobile phones intermittently. This test result will definitely serve as a warning to mobile phone users.

Micael Repacholi (an Australian), the director of the World Health Organization Electromagnetic Field Research Project, made a statement based on his research report: “The thermal effect from mobile phone radiation is significantly correlated with cancer.” He also discovered that a long-term exposure to pulse-electromagnetic waves greatly increases laboratory rats’ chances of getting lymphoma, and also speeds up the growth of this disease.

Dr. Bruce Hocking, an ex-medical science director at Telstra, Australia’s state telephone corporation, conducted a study on a group of mobile phone users and found that the use of mobile phones may cause headache, dizziness, upset stomach and blurred vision. Dr. Hocking strongly called on setting limits on mobile phone advertisements and recommended children not to use this device.

Mobile Phone Enterprise Research Organizations discovered that mobile phones interfere with the functioning of pacemaker. The organization further warned those with pacemakers to keep mobile phones away from their chest. Studies also discovered that mobile phones can interfere with the operation of hearing-aids and medical equipment. As a result, Netherlands’ National Health Investigation Association set a regulation in 1994 that all mobile phones must be switched off upon entering the hospital area.

Other studies throughout the world have also reported that the incidence of lymphoma, skin cancer, breast cancer and brain tumor increases with the exposure to pulsed electromagnetic/microwave radiation. Recently, there has been a tremendous increase in the sources of electromagnetic waves and the degree of public exposure to the radiation, yet we have not heard of any reports on the potential harm from electromagnetic waves despite all these existing unequivocal information. This censorship of information is due to the powerful and influential profit-making organizations, using their wealth, power and business collusion, have blocked the circulation of these vital information. On the surface they appear to be sponsoring academic research, but secretly they use different ways to manipulate news. Many scientists are forced not to remain silent due to the pressure of research grant sponsorship. All these problems are to do with money. Under the temptation of millions of dollars of profits, these enterprises have emitted radiation into the environment and yet asserting against their conscience that mobile phones are safe to use.

Extracted from Lapis Lazuli Light Magazine 2002 Feb Issue
Translated by Lapis Lazuli Light Singapore