Post by: Environmental Working Group

A series of studies quietly published over the last five years show that cell phone network technologies affect radiation exposure as much as the phone design itself. These studies, mostly overlooked by the press, indicate that users of the same mobile device can absorb starkly different amounts of radio frequency emissions, depending on which carrier serves them.

There is increased concern if the cell phone user is a child. Children may be more vulnerable to radiation because they have smaller heads and thinner skulls than adults. Multiple scientific studies, including one conducted by France Telecom, have demonstrated that the brains of young children absorb more radiation than adult brains, possibly rendering them more vulnerable to brain tumors. Now that cell phones are cheap and convenient, nearly four in every five teens own a cell phone, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

Studies raise possible radiation link to cancer, brain activity, fertility!

Though scientific research has not established firm links between cell phone radiation and human illness, many scientists are taking the question extremely seriously as the number of wireless devices in the U.S. has climbed past the 300 million mark. In 2011, the World Health Organization said that cellphone radiation might be a “possible carcinogen.”

A separate study by Dr. Nora Volkow, a pioneering brain imaging specialist in charge of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, produced dramatic images that showed that 50 minutes of cellphone use visibly changed brain activity nearest the phone’s antenna. Volkow called for more research to explore the meaning of the changes she observed.

At least 10 other studies have identified changes in sperm exposed to cell phone radiation. In the most striking findings, men who carried their phones in a pocket or on the belt were more likely to have lower sperm counts and/or more inactive or less mobile sperm.

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The Environmental Working Group is an American environmental organization that specializes in research and advocacy in the areas of toxic chemicals, agricultural subsidies, public lands, and corporate accountability.