Feb
2008
Ardent lovers and frequent mobile phone users are at 50% more risk of developing the “Parotid Gland Tumor” compared to those who either do not use mobile phone devices or use it quite less frequently.The “parotid gland” is located near our jaw and ear, the place where we normally place the mobile phone devices while communicating. It is the largest human salivary gland in our body.
Mark Kidd in an article published in the year 2006 in the “Ear Nose and Throat Journal “reported that approximately one to three per hundred thousand people is the rate of occurrence of ‘salivary gland tumors’ on an annual basis. Projecting the same rate ahead, if the rate is increased by 50% would raise the theoretical risk of developing a brain tumor from its rate of 0.003% to 0.0045% per year.
Presently, the rate of deaths caused by the car accidents in the United States alone is nearly 14 per hundred thousand people per year. A close comparison with this ratio can easily make a perspective of dangers posed by the frequent use of cell phones to the common people.
The debate is constantly on as the use of cell phone is dangerous or not. The possible outcomes and resulting health effects are among the focus of several of the studies that are still underway. But one aspect is clear which concerns the radiation impacts on human beings. Researchers around the world will have to work with all available data but since the number of mobile phone devices users is growing exponentially they should opt for more comprehensive studies involving large populations. Some experts feel that this may be a time taking exercise but to derive conclusive findings it is required in the interest of people’s health concerns.
Risk of cancer is also one such debatable issue as scientists across the world seem to be divided on this issue. Some favor such health effects like cancer and some of course do not. However, there appears to be a consensus emerging in favor of a risk of cancer though very small but real. More specific research studies are required to obtain conclusive proof.
It is clear from the findings of the ‘U.K. Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme’ which remarked that they “found no association between short term mobile phone use and brain cancer”. At the same time they also expressed that “the situation for longer term exposure is less clear”.
Findings of another study conducted by professor Kjell Mild of Sweden’s ‘Orebro University’ revealed that prolonged use of mobile phone devices for a period of over ten years definitely enhances the probability of brain cancer and children in particular are far more susceptible to this great risk as the radiations are more likely to affect their developing skulls. Researchers feel that probably it is the prolonged use of devices that causes adverse effects on health and this is perhaps the reason that researches conducted with a short term focus have not been able to find out such results.
On the contrary, findings of a Swedish research conducted last year and published in the “American Journal of Epidemiology” said that an analysis was made for possible risks of using mobile phones related to the parotid gland tumours but the researchers could observe no direct relation between the two.
Both these specific studies focussed on ‘parotid tumour risks’ differ in their approach and methodologies. The study conducted in year 2006 involved 172 people who were having Benin and malignant tumours along with the 691 health control subjects. On the other hand the present study conducted by an Israeli scientist, Dr. Siegal Sadetzki at the ‘Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research’ at the ‘Sheba Medical Center’ included almost 500 people with benin and malignant tumours and nearly 1,300 healthy controls.
Israeli people were among the early cell phone adaptors and they are heavy technology users, according to Sadetzki. This tendency, she says, exposes them to higher radio frequencies compared to any other populations. In rural areas, her study reveals, the risk of cancer is increased considerably among the frequent cell phone users. Presence of fewer antennas the radiation output is also increased and this affects the rural people while communicating with the mobile phone devices. She expressed her concern that the frequent users and specifically the children are at greater risk of various health effects.
Precaution is the best way, Sadetzki says, in order to diminish the exposure and lower down the risk. She strongly recommends use of hands free devices and holding the phone away from body. She also calls for reducing the talk time on phones making them shorter calls and less frequent use. Parents must impose a limitation on their children to follow a controlled routine with mobile phone devices.
