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World Health Organization Says Cellphones Cause Cancer ... Oh, And They're Killing Off the Bees As Well
The World Health Organization just issued a report stating that cellphones are "possibly carcinogenic to humans".
Specifically, WHO found "an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, associated with wireless phone use".
The
WHO report notes that a previous study showed increased risk with
increased cellphone use, and recommends taking actions - such as using
hands-free equipment - to reduce exposure to the electromagnetic fields
produced by cellphones.
CNN points out:
The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same "carcinogenic hazard" category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.
***
The
type of radiation coming out of a cell phone is called non-ionizing.
It is not like an X-ray, but more like a very low-powered microwave
oven.
"What microwave radiation does in most simplistic terms is
similar to what happens to food in microwaves, essentially cooking the
brain," Black said. "So in addition to leading to a development of
cancer and tumors, there could be a whole host of other effects like
cognitive memory function, since the memory temporal lobes are where we
hold our cell phones."
***
Results from the largest
international study on cell phones and cancer was released in 2010. It
showed participants in the study who used a cell phone for 10 years or more had doubled the
rate of brain glioma, a type of tumor. To date, there have been no
long-term studies on the effects of cell phone usage among children.
"Children's
skulls and scalps are thinner. So the radiation can penetrate deeper
into the brain of children and young adults. Their cells are at a
dividing faster rate, so the impact of radiation can be much larger."
said Black of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
***
Manufacturers of many popular cell phones already warn consumers to keep their device away from their body.
It should be noted that WHO's findings are not strictly limited to cellphones. Specifically, the report discusses:
radio frequency electromagnetic fields, such as those emitted by wireless communication devices.
As such, the WHO report may give ammunition to those who oppose non-essential rf em fields, such as California residents who oppose the installation of "smart meters" by the local power company.
The
smart meters wirelessly beam electric usage information to the power
company. The utility installed the smart meters on all customers' homes
(without their consent) in order to save the cost of having workers
manually check electric meters.
For those who are surprised that an electromagnetic fields can affect the human body, you are behind the times. As I noted last month:
It
is well-known that humans and animals have many electric currents
inside of us, and that we interact with electric fields and electric
currents outside of our bodies. For example, the pumping of our hearts
is driven by an electrical system, and EKGs measure the electrical activity in our heart:The
[EKG]works mostly by detecting and amplifying the tiny electrical
changes on the skin that are caused when the heart muscle "depolarizes"
during each heart beat.Electrocution can kill by disrupting the heart's electrical system.
Our brains are also largely electrical systems, and EEGs measure electrical activity in our brain:
Electroencephalography
(EEG) is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp produced
by the firing of neurons within the brain.[2] In clinical contexts,
EEG refers to the recording of the brain's spontaneous electrical
activity over a short period of time ....Both EKGs and EEGs use sensors on the outside of our bodies (on the skin) to measure electrical activity occurring inside our bodies.
Some
animals can directly sense electric currents and electric fields of
their prey, or produce electricity to stun or kill their prey. As
About.com notes:Electric
fields are used in numerous ways by animals. Electric eels and some
rays have modified muscle cells that produce an electric charge strong
enough to shock and sometimes kill their prey. Other fish use weaker
electric fields to navigate murky waters or to monitor their
surroundings. For instance, bony fish and some frogs have a lateral
line, a row of sensory pores in the skin, that enables them to detect
electrical current in water.The California Academy of Sciences points out:
Sharks are almost as precise as the best physics laboratories in the country when it comes to sensing tiny electric effects.
They can use this "sixth sense" to find food and even mates, since all
living animals create their own electric fields. When a fish swims, or
even moves its gills, it creates a change in the surrounding electric
field that sharks can detect ....There are many other examples of our interaction with electromagnetism.
Bad for the Bees
Cellphones aren't just potentially hazardous to us.
As Digital Trends recently reported:
Researcher
Daniel Favre of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology has found
that wireless signals cause honeybees to become so disoriented that
they finally just die. [Link] Favre’s team conducted 83 separate experiments that tested bees’ reactions to a nearby cellphone.
The team found that honeybees made 10 times the amount of noise when a
cell phone made or received a call than they did when the phone was in
off or standby mode. As Fast Company
reports, this noise (generally known as “worker piping”) usually
signals the bees to leave the hive. But when the reaction is triggered
by a cellular signal, the bees just became tragically befuddled.
So, what about a cell phone signal makes bees suicidally crazy? As
Favre’s report explains: “Worker piping in a bee colony is not frequent,
and when it occurs in a colony, that is not in a swarming process, no
more than two bees are simultaneously active…The induction of honeybee
worker piping by the electromagnetic fields of mobile phones might have
dramatic consequences in terms of colony losses due to unexpected
swarming.”
It’s the “dramatic…colony losses”
part that everyone should be concerned about. Honeybees are responsible
for pollinating about 70 percent of the 100 or so crops on the entire
planet that humans use for food.
So-called “colony collapse disorder”
among the world’s bee population has been recorded since 1972. But it
wasn’t until 2006 that the drop in the bee population took a nosedive,
with beekeepers noting a 30 to 90 percent loss of their bee colonies,
up from 17 to 20 percent in previous years.
Favre’s study corroborates a 2008 report that showed that honeybees
would not return to their hive when a cell phone was placed nearby,
which sparked the theory that wireless signals are the problem.
(There are a number of other reasons bees are dying, as well.)
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What about the bee angle of the story? Or are you the kind of person who thinks we don't need bees?
If the bees go then the food supply is close behind.
So, if we don't stop cell phones, some kind of eco-disaster is imminent, culminating in a mass starvation event? You do realize how hysterical you eviros sound?
And you know cell phones have not caused massive bee losses how???? Could you please sight some references for those of us who don't like listening to hysterical speculation from either side of the debate...
T.E.I.N. everyone.
he don't eat no fruit or veggies.. just beef jerky and moonshine so fuck them bees he say
Most industry sponsored studies say cellphones don't cause cancer. But all cellphones come with warnings of not using it near your head or keep distance and stuff (even the IPhone). Most non industry sponsored studies say cellphones do/might cause cancer. It wouldn't surprise me if they actually do. After all, industry touted tobacco as safe, why wouldn't they do the same now? And even more, what else can we do? Can we stop living the wireless life or should we die trying?
According to 75% of industry 'doctors' smoking cellphones is sexy, makes your shit smell sweet and is a safe and natural way to remove genital warts.
Oxygen is poisonous!
And never forget this threat to humanity: http://dhmo.org/
Oxygen is poisonous
And when combined with Hydrogen it can form H20, a substance that kills many thousands each year.
It just killed 18 thousand in Japan.
Can be, at high pressure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity
Not just then, taken from your linked article:
Pulmonary and ocular toxicity result from longer exposure to elevated oxygen levels at normal pressure.
Dude relax! Wouldn't you rather use this as an excuse to have retarded people give up cell phones? I mean do I really need to know that Rubin needs to pick up some dog laxative at Petco during the upcoming attractions portion of my movie experience? Yeah, I thought so. You're welcome