Cancer from using the iPhone?

[SPeditor]

I read and hear about health issues when using cell phones. With the iPhone loaded with extra things such as GPS, how does this affect our health? Does the iPhone have a low or high SAR? How about the RF? Read this link:

http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/action/reduce_phones.asp

Don't want to get cancer later in life because of using my iPhone. Any safety info on this phone would be great to ad here for all of us to know.

Thanks.

 

[SFStateStudent]

Article^^^is from June 2007. http://tech.blorge.com/Structure: /2007/06/03/panorama-expert-defends-wi-fi-cancer-scaremongering/

Pertains to UK? If I didn't want cancer later in life, I'd quit smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day! (Just kidding, I quit smoking when I was 13 years old)

 

[aristobrat]

With the iPhone loaded with extra things such as GPS, how does this affect our health?

Since it's a GPS receiver in the phone, and the actual "beam" being received is coming from the satellite in space (and going through you, regardless of if you have a GPS phone or not), I'd guess that adding GPS to any phone doesn't affect much.

 

[SFStateStudent]

Also found this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1558441/Mobile-phone-masts-'do-not-damage-health'.html

Tough to decide which one to believe for me.

 

[javaGuru]

yes, we are all going to die! Apple has a huge conspiracy to kill us all with the iPhone. j/k

 

[meagain]

use the earphones

 

[NAG]

FUD.

Really, it relies on people not understanding technology let alone understanding biology. If you're really afraid and won't be convinced otherwise even if God came down and told you just use a headset.

 

[ruinfx]

i heard you could get AIDS too

 

[Chundles]

There was a bloke here once who was so paranoid about mobile phone radiation he had a little geiger-counter-thingy (cheap piece of crap from Thailand that isn't actually a geiger counter), a wire mesh veil that he put over his head when receiving a call and he still holds the phone at arm's length.

A nutter to be precise. I'd rather take the tiniest, tiiiiiniest risk of possibly developing cancer later in life than look like an absolute goose like that bloke.

 

[Muncher]

i heard you could get AIDS too

I really hope that's a joke.

A few years ago there was research on 60Hz radiation from power lines. The result? Even after trials, there was no proof of harmful effects, but the people who started the scare still published a "report" saying that the radiation "might" be cancerous.

Take both sides with a grain of salt; it is microwave radiation, some of which is harmful, and we don't understand this well enough for a conclusive, solid proof either way. We just haven't seen a real positive for harm yet.

 

[swanage]

I am sorry to write that the link between cancer/aids and iPhone usage is in fact correct.

Sadly I passed away last year and only wish my iPhone Mk1 had GPS so the ambulance could have found my body more quickly.

Very sad for everyone involved, let this be a warning.

 

[Hudzilla]

If you believe everything that published about the causes of cancer, you wouldnt eat, sleep, breathe, use the bathroom, drink (anything), or just basically live your life.

 

[wako]

let alone understanding biology. If you're really afraid and won't be convinced otherwise even if God came down and told you just use a headset.

actually there IS a lot of biology behind it. your body is usually unharmed by low dosage of radiation, however despite it being low being exposed to it all the time is not good for you and adding more to the equation is never good

The reason why these studies are inconclusive is because people's sensitivity to radiation differs from people to people. Much like how some people can get burned easily under sun light and some people arent.

However one argument I have always thought was a very good point was; the phobia of cancer or radiation poisoning has been around since the late 40s with the introduction of TV and radio when radiation poisoning was first discovered. Since those have been around for so long and our grandparents have all become infertile and mutated to god knows what they were imagining back then, Im pretty sure the radiation that our phones will be fine too since the strength of the radio waves arent that much different (a few MHz isnt that much )

However if you really want to live life on the safe side, do as what he suggests. Use a WIRED headset and make sure you dont have your phone near your nut sack. Im sure you still want your men to be swimming even if you dont have brain cancer

 

[sk8mash]

It won't give you cancer. What is coming out of your mobile is a radio wave. If you work it out (very logically) you calculate the power of those waveforms to be about 0.3W. What people worry about is that 0.3W of power heating up the water in your tissue, and destroying the cells. There is no evidence to support it, and if you compare it to the power of other waves that pass through you all the time, its nothing.

 

[wako]

What people worry about is that 0.3W of power heating up the water in your tissue, and destroying the cells.

ROFL


if radiation was simply "destroying" our cells, then nobody would be worrying about cancer... you obviously have no idea what low radiation does....

it is our brittle DNA that is we are worried about. not what if water boils away from our cells lol...

 

[alFR]

it is our brittle DNA that is we are worried about. not what if water boils away from our cells lol...

If you think that radiofrequency radiation damages your DNA, you clearly have no idea what RF radiation does. Both these studies showed that radio waves don't have the energy to directly damage DNA (unlike higher-frequency radiation like x-rays):

• Meltz, M. L. Radiofrequency exposure and mammalian cell toxicity, genotoxicity, and transformation. Bioelectromagnetics. 2003;(suppl. 6):S196–S213.
• Valberg, P. A.;van Deventer, T. E.; Repacholi, M. H. Workgroup report: base stations and wireless networks – radiofrequency (RF) exposures and health consequences. Environ. Health Perspect. 2007;115:416–424.

 

[iCantwait]

ummmmmmm, im sorry, but EVERYTHING in the 21st century causes cancer, like even cancer causes cancer now...

 

[carlosbutler]

what ever level the iPhone, or in fact any other phone pumps out is irrelevant. companies are not allowed to go over the limit, which is constantly looked at by governments or scientists or somthing.

but that doesnt even matter. wireless fidelity, aka WiFi signals are a lot stronger than that of a mobile phone. so if you have a WiFi box or router somewhere in your home, or office, or school, or even in large cities now, you are going to be hit by some sort of wave, which is stronger than a mobile phone.

if you think about it, if you live in a M.E.D.C, most cities will have wireless somwhere in them, and most shopping centres, restaurants, cafes, cyber cafes (obviously) will all have wifi routers.

most secondary schools in the UK now have routers in them. the sixth form i used to go to had about 1100 students, and the whole school was filled with routers, roughly one router to ever two classrooms...

so there is no point in worrying about mobile phones unless you are one of these business people that walk round all day speaking on the phone, but if you are then you would obviously use the headphones, or a bluetooth headset (yet another signal)

 

[TheNightPhoenix]

use the earphones

There has been reports that this is the worst thing to do. Somehow the earphones on hands free kits help transmit and direct more radiation then just holding the phone to your head.

I can imagine we'll see all the iPhone users who use it as an iPod dropping dead first.

 

[Kupe]

but that doesnt even matter. wireless fidelity, aka WiFi signals are a lot stronger than that of a mobile phone. so if you have a WiFi box or router somewhere in your home, or office, or school, or even in large cities now, you are going to be hit by some sort of wave, which is stronger than a mobile phone.

While this is sorta-kinda true, the aspect of attenuation (decrease in signal power over distance) is an overriding factor. Radio waves attenuate over distance and the higher frequency waves (which generally are more damaging) attenuate the most quickly. In any case, holding a cell phone against your head doesn't have nearly the same exposure as staring inside your microwave oven from 8 inches away impatiently waiting for your popcorn to finish.

 

[BOSS10L]

Geez, that sure is funny. I read somewhere the other day that the iPhone cures Cancer, Aids, and that the 3G model should have world hunger beat within a few months of its release.

 

[PowerFullMac]

Since it's a GPS receiver in the phone, and the actual "beam" being received is coming from the satellite in space (and going through you, regardless of if you have a GPS phone or not), I'd guess that adding GPS to any phone doesn't affect much.

The GPS reciever is only on when you are using any app that accesses it, if you are just on the phone or playing games or sending texts or whatever it will not even be on.

I am doing a essay in in science about if phones cause cancer ATM and most of the research yeilds no evedance at all. Ask all the people using BlackBerrys etc., are they still alive and well?

 

[senorFunkyPants]

Ask all the people using BlackBerrys etc., are they still alive and well?

Yes they most certainly are...except for the dead ones of course!!

 

[design-is]

The only fact around this subject is that we really don't know how all this new technology will affect us in the long run as it hasn't been around long enough for any long term studies to of been carried out.

We use at our own risk.

I think this is generally accepted amongst those who know about technology, and those who don't know probably don't really care what it does to you.

A few studies have pointed to possible growth defects in children being associated with wireless technologies, but there is no proof as of yet that indicates a definitive link.

General consensus seems to be at the moment that the low level radiation from common wireless technologies is unlikely to adversely effect fully developed tissues (brain and otherwise). But they could have an effect on tissues within people who are not yet fully developed - infants and children. Wi-Fi in schools is great isn't it...

 

[Hydramus]

Most of the radiation produced by all this new technology, is of a very low frequency. The energy of the photons in these EM waves would be far too low to cause any damage to cells in our body. Even light has more energy per photon... You don't ever hear of light killing anyone, well, until we invent laser guns .

The GPS reciever is only on when you are using any app that accesses it, if you are just on the phone or playing games or sending texts or whatever it will not even be on.

I am doing a essay in in science about if phones cause cancer ATM and most of the research yeilds no evedance at all. Ask all the people using BlackBerrys etc., are they still alive and well?

But the reciever does not emit any radiation whether it is on or off. The GPS signal is always on and being transmitted from the ~20-30 satellites in space. Thats what he meant.

There has been reports that this is the worst thing to do. Somehow the earphones on hands free kits help transmit and direct more radiation then just holding the phone to your head.

I can imagine we'll see all the iPhone users who use it as an iPod dropping dead first.

I'm intrigued now, how can holding the phone away from your head cause more radiation to be transmitted through your head? Just seems counter-intuitive to me. The earphones don't emit the phone signal, nor can they direct/channel the radiation.