Cell Phones for Kids Raise Concerns
Marketing cell phones to kids is inexcusable with all the health risks that are known.
SEATTLE
– Parents should think twice before giving in to a middle-schooler's
demands for a cell phone, some scientists say, because potential
long-term health risks remain unclear.
Researchers
have speculated for more than 10 years that the electromagnetic
radiation emitted from cell phones may damage DNA and cause benign
brain tumors, said Henry Lai, a bioengineering professor at the
University of Washington.
…In
Britain, the chairman of the National Radiological Protection Board
advised in January that parents should not give mobile phones to
children age 8 or younger as a precaution against the potential harm of
radiation from the devices.
When you use a cell phone, 70 to 80 percent of the energy emitted from the antenna is absorbed by the head, Lai said.
…Several
research studies have pointed to the potential impacts of long-term
absorption of cell phone-emitted radiation but little of the research
has focused on the children.
Lai said
he was concerned about the impact on children because young skulls are
thinner and the growing brain may be more susceptible to radiation.
He also
said that because brain tumors usually take 30-40 years to develop,
children who use cell phones from their teen years onward would have a
longer period of time to see a cumulative impact.
(Click here to read the complete article
.)
For further information:
Read Dr. George Carlo’s book, Cell Phones: Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age.
Dr Carlo was hired by the cell phone industry to research health
risks. What he discovered was a truly shocking degree of
potential health hazard with regular phone usage. His
funding was immediately withdrawn by the cell phone companies, and he
was prevented from publishing his results. See RFsafe.com for a current list of cell phone studies.
Many cell phone manufactures claim now that the current guideline
set by the FCC is safe; however, not only does this book cite thousands
of studies that demonstrate the huge risk to your health with
chronic/long term exposure but also traces out FCC complicity in
distorting research findings. Wearing earphones or using a speakerphone
is very effective in reducing that risk. Whenever possible, use the
cell phone only as a substitute when a land phone is not available.
For
children, whose brains are still developing, the current marketing
campaign to sell cell phones to children is inexcusable given how much
is known about the dangers. We recommend that children should only use
cell phones in an emergency or for short conversations and then only
with a speaker phone.
(Source)
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