Cellular phone radiation harmless to people
The research of cellular communication effects touches upon the interests of large corporations
It has already become impossible to imagine the modern world without the mobile communication. The issue of cellular phones’ harm to people’s health has been gaining a lot of attention as well, although scientists still do not have a common opinion about it. Russian medics try to look into the matter too.
The fact of cellular phone causing damage to people’s health has not been proved yet, although it raises much suspicion for medical specialists, scientists of the Moscow Medical Academy concluded, when they analyzed the information about biological effects of cellular phone radiation. Unfortunately, Russian scientists have not studied the effects before.
According to the Association of cellular communication system makers, the number of cell phone users increases by 46,000 people every year and will overcome 1.25 billion people by 2005. Russia can boast of having about 14 million cellular communication subscribers. High-frequency decimetric radiation is considered the key harmful factor of cellular phones. Russia’s widespread GSM standard operates on 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz frequencies. It is rather hard to forecast biological effects of the cell phone radiation due to radiation power fluctuations caused with peculiarities of a cell phone, its operating conditions, and subscriber’s remoteness from base stations. According to physiologists’ rich experiences, however, practically any type of radiation is hazardous to human health. Cellular phones are therefore considered conditionally safe – scientists continue exploring various aspects of cellular radiation’s influence on people’s health and environment.
The majority of researchers believe that the cellular phone radiation affects the nervous system and provokes the development of cancerous growths. The information on the issue is rather contradictory, though. Some specialists do not see any ties between cellular phones and cancerous tumors, other believe that the connection is obvious. It has been proved, however, that 900 MHz radio-waves speed up the blood circulation in the cerebral cortex and change healthy people’s electroencephalography in the state of sleep.
Russian medics believe that there are several reasons, which do not let scientists find a common opinion on the matter. Researchers often use various methods in their work, which makes it very hard to compare the results. Furthermore, the research of cellular communication effects touches upon the interests of large corporations, which cannot but affect the results too. Such researches are based on short observation terms, whereas it takes cancerous tumors really long time to develop. Thus, it is impossible for the majority of researchers to find malignant tumors at their early stages.
For the time being, one may presume that cell phone radiation does not show a negative influence on people. The human body apparently possesses certain devices to protect phone users against radiation. Negative effects may easily manifest themselves for those cell phone users, who suffer from weak immune system. There is hardly any information about the influence that the phone radiation exerts on children. If cell phones bring harm to children, consequences for the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the country may turn out to be unpredictable. For instance, it is impossible to predict, how cell phone users will act in this case. Smokers, for example, are perfectly aware of the harm that they cause to themselves, although the awareness of it can hardly make any of them quit smoking.
Read the original in Russian: (Translated by: Dmitry Sudakov)
