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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday December 16 2017, @10:13PM   Printer-friendly
from the known-by-the-state-of-California dept.

California recommends keeping cellphones/smartphones away from your body, as well as "reducing the use of cell phones to stream audio or video, or to download or upload large files":

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a warning against the hazards of cellphone radiation this week. Yes, the thing we are all addicted to and can't seem to put down is leaking electromagnetic radiation and now California has some guidance to safeguard the public.

The CDPH asks people to decrease their use of these devices and suggests keeping your distance when possible. "Although the science is still evolving, there are concerns among some public health professionals and members of the public regarding long-term, high use exposure to the energy emitted by cell phones," said CDPH director Dr. Karen Smith.

The warning comes after findings were offered up this week from a 2009 department document, which was published after an order from the Sacramento Superior Court. A year ago, UC Berkeley professor Joel Moskowitz initiated a lawsuit to get the department to release the findings after he started looking into whether mobile phone use increased the risk of tumors. A draft of the document was released in March, but the final release is more extensive.

Separately, a new study has linked non-ionizing radiation to an increased risk of miscarriage:

A study of real-world exposure to non-ionizing radiation from magnetic fields in pregnant women found a significantly higher rate of miscarriage, providing new evidence regarding their potential health risks. The Kaiser Permanente study was published today in the journal Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group).

Non-ionizing radiation from magnetic fields is produced when electric devices are in use and electricity is flowing. It can be generated by a number of environmental sources, including electric appliances, power lines and transformers, wireless devices and wireless networks. Humans are exposed to magnetic fields via close proximity to these sources while they are in use.

Exposure to Magnetic Field Non-Ionizing Radiation and the Risk of Miscarriage: A Prospective Cohort Study (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-16623-8) (DX)

Also at Environmental Working Group.


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  • (Score: 1) by mobydisk on Monday December 18 2017, @03:04AM

    by mobydisk (5472) on Monday December 18 2017, @03:04AM (#611250)

    This headline is wrong. In Soylent's defense, this is how everyone is reporting it.

    California issued no warning. California was sued, and as a result of a local "Right to Know" ordinance they agreed to release information about how to keep your cell phone away from you. But they did not issue a "warning" of any kind. The professor who sued them claimed that "If you keep the device by your body you will exceed the safety limits provided by the FCC" even though the FCC has no such limit. In fact, the research continues to show that radiation at these ridiculously low levels has no biological effect at all. Heck, The EPA, OSHA, and the CDC all have articles about non-ionizing radiation. So this is really much ado about nothing, but it will probably feed the ambient paranoia about the topic.

    Funny note: Some years ago we found a correlation between hip cancer and people who kept their cell phones on their belt. It turned out that it was caused by the constant bumping of the weight against your hip: the problem happened even if the people wore other non-electronic devices on their belt clips.

    Another one: There was a study that correlated living near power lines to childhood leukemia in Europe. The meta-analysis knew that there would be a certain amount of random correlations - the study was just intended to find areas worth performing real studies on. But laws and guidelines spread throughout Europe, then overseas, because who was going to vote against a law that saves children from leukemia? It took a decade before the real studies came out showing there was no connection.