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Study of Cellphone Risks Finds 'Some Evidence' of Link to Cancer, at Least in Male Rats
For decades, health experts have struggled to determine whether or not cellphones can cause cancer. On Thursday, a federal agency released the final results of what experts call the world's largest and most costly experiment to look into the question. The study originated in the Clinton administration, cost $30 million and involved some 3,000 rodents.
The experiment, by the National Toxicology Program, found positive but relatively modest evidence that radio waves from some types of cellphones could raise the risk that male rats develop brain cancer. "We believe that the link between radio-frequency radiation and tumors in male rats is real," John Bucher, a senior scientist at the National Toxicology Program, said in a statement.
But he cautioned that the exposure levels and durations were far greater than what people typically encounter, and thus cannot "be compared directly to the exposure that humans experience." Moreover, the rat study examined the effects of a radio frequency associated with an early generation of cellphone technology, one that fell out of routine use years ago. Any concerns arising from the study thus would seem to apply mainly to early adopters who used those bygone devices, not to users of current models.
[...] The rats were exposed to radiation at a frequency of 900 megahertz — typical of the second generation of cellphones that prevailed in the 1990s, when the study was first conceived. Current cellphones represent a fourth generation, known as 4G, and 5G phones are expected to debut around 2020. They employ much higher frequencies, and these radio waves are far less successful at penetrating the bodies of humans and rats, scientists say.
Previously: Major Cell Phone Radiation Study Reignites Cancer Questions
First Clear Evidence Cell Phone Radiation Can Cause Cancer In Rats
Related: Dim-Bulb Politician Wants Warning on Cell Phones
California Issues Warning Over Cellphones; Study Links Non-Ionizing Radiation to Miscarriage
Mill Valley, California Blocks 5G Over Health Concerns
(Score: 3, Interesting) by eravnrekaree on Saturday November 03 2018, @01:39PM (2 children)
It is said that the high frequencies cannot penetrate the body well. But that doesnt jibe with the fact that it can somehow still pass through walls. If you can use your cellphone inside your house, it can pass through your body. They also use similar frequencies to a microwave oven, we see how microwaves will excite water molecules. The man danger from these devices is the thermal chemical effect
(Score: 2) by Knowledge Troll on Saturday November 03 2018, @03:57PM
Microwaves can only penetrate something like a body a few millimeters - this is why the core of food heated in a microwave oven stays cold while the outside surfaces get hot. To successfully warm the whole thing you need to warm it outside in because microwaves really don't penetrate that deep.
Now why they said this I don't know - I guess they are suggesting it isn't worth worrying about skin cancer since it would only be a few mm deep anyway?
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday November 03 2018, @10:29PM
I don't know about your walls, but I'm pretty sure that my walls are made of very different material than my body.
And if you want to argue that the material doesn't matter, remember that light (which is high-frequency electromagnetic radiation) passes glass quite well, while it is reliably blocked by stone.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.