Mobile Phone Radiation – is it safe exposure?

The jury is still out a little on the answer to that and more research is needed. The Environmental Working Group (Washington) think that mobile phone users should be warned about levels of radiation until such time as scientists know much more.

Recent studies find significantly higher risks for brain and salivary gland tumors among people using cell phones for 10 years or longer. The state of the science is provocative and troubling, and much more research is essential.”

The EWG have created a database ranking more than 1,000 mobile phones in terms of the amount of radiation they emit, so that consumers can factor radiation emissions into the purchase decision.

Top 5 phones (least radiation)

1. Samsung Impression
2. Motorola RAZR V8
3. Samsung SGH-t229
4. Samsung Rugby (SGH-a837)
5. Samsung Propel Pro (SGH-i627)

Of course, being an American database, some models are different to what is released here. Don’t fear though, mobile phone users can input their mobile phone models to check against the EWG database how much radiation they may be exposing themselves to.

Most radiation?

So which handset is the highest rated?

You can see here that Samsung ranks 4 out of the Top 5 (and actually had 5 out of 10 for the lowest radiation exposure), which sounds like a big win for them, but don’t be caught out by that.  Looking at the entire table, there are also some Samsung in the extremely high levels.

Although Motorola came in the at No2, Motorola handsets were also sprinkled all the way down the table, along with the Blackberry.

And well, there’s no mention of the Apple iPhone in the Top 10 table … Apple fans (or non-fans who want to gloat) need to search quite a way down the online database to see how it ranked.

Reduce your Risk

Check out their tips for how you can reduce your exposure – for example more texting than talking. Yay, justification for not having to take any more phone calls?

Originating source: How much radiation does your mobile emit?

World Health Organisation’s findings

The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) this week announced that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had provided their advice on the dangers of mobile phones and cancer.

The issue has again been raised after a top neurosurgeon claims that there has been an “exponential rise”.

The AMTA reports:

Brain surgeon Charlie Teo told radio 2GB this week that there was an “explosion” of fatal brain tumours, which he said were potentially associated with mobile phone use.

The WHO believes:

“…the overall evidence available to date does not suggest that the use of mobile phones has any detrimental effect on human health”

I still think perhaps prevention is better than an attempt at cure.

If the use of headsets can help reduce RF exposure, then why don’t we all just get into the habit of using one?  If you’re always listening to music on your mobile phone or iPhone, then a pair of in-ear headsets with call control function does the job nicely!

xox

Seeing Eye Mobile Phone Technology

Just read a great blog post on Mobi Health News (thanks to @ShermanHu) about technology to assist visually impaired with mobile phones.

Vision for the future

SeeStar and SeeScan applications from iVisit:

…allow visually impaired users a virtual “pair of eyes” and object recognition using a mobile phone’s camera to detect and recognize objects and locations, using saved still shots, location data or live video transmitted to a remote assistant (either professional service or perhaps to a family, friend or other caregiver.”

With continual advancement, they’re hoping to move towards integrating face recognition and other technology to take these applications – and therefore their users – to a whole new level of mobilility.

Currently the software only works on Windows Mobiles, but being rolled out to iPhones and Symbian handsets as well.

Good one!

x0x