Cellular phones are widely used all over the world and it was first made available in the United States in the 1990s. Since then, their use has dramatically increased and the amount of time people spend on their phones, both adults and children, had gone higher. Cell phones emit radiofrequency waves which is a form of energy. There had been a lot of concerns about the safety of cell phone use. Some concerns focus on whether cell phones might increase the risk of brain tumors or other tumors in the head and neck area that may result to cancer.
Cell phones work by sending signals to nearby cell towers using RF waves which is a form of electromagnetic energy. These RF waves are a form of non-ionizing radiation which have low energy and are not known to cause cancer by directly damaging the DNA inside cells. These are different from ionizing waves which a re stronger types of radiation such as x-ray, gamma rays and ultraviolet light which can ruin the DNA. People are exposed because the RF waves from cell phones come from the antenna and the closer the antenna is to the head, the greater a person’s expected exposure to RF energy. Other factors that affect the amount of RF energy to which a person is exposed includes the amount of time the person is on the phone, whether or not the person is using the speaker mode or hands-free device, or the model of the cell phone used. Studies have been conducted but sometimes it’s hard to know what the results of these studies mean because many other factors that might affect the results are hard to account for. Both lab studies and studies in people neither provide enough evidence to show that it causes cancer in people.
Based on the available evidence, experts agreed that more research is needed to look at possible long-term effects of cell phone use. Since it is not clear that RF waves from cell phones can cause harmful effects in people, I believe that we should try to be cautious and be safer. Although we may not be able to completely stop using our cell phones, there may be some things that can be done to help limit our exposure. We could use the speaker mode on the phone or a hands-free device such as a corded earpiece. We could also start texting more often instead of talking. Another is to actually limit the amount of time we use the cell phone. As for now, we don’t recall know what effects cell phone use might have on our health so it’s better to be cautious and safe.
