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Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, in partnership with Korea’s National Cancer Center and Seoul University, have been analyzing data from 46 studies in 16 countries including the U.K., Japan, Sweden and New Zealand in addition to the U.S. and Korea, and their findings indicate a statistical link between cell phone use and incidence of tumors, with an emphasis on brain tumors.
As reported 8 July by KTVU Fox 2, 1000 hours of cell phone use over 10 years, or 17 minutes a day over that period, increases the risk of brain tumors by 60 percent.
As cell phone use becomes more and more widespread, it becomes more of a health concern, despite receiving little attention from the scientific community, according to Joel Moskowitz, who is the director of the Center for Family and Community Health at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.
More People Ditching Landlines for Cell Phones
The Pew Research Center reports that over 97 percent of Americans now own a cell phone of some type, including smartphones. And figures from the Centers for Disease Control show that almost 62 percent of American adults have given up their landlines and rely exclusively on wireless devices for their telephone communications.
“Nothing to Worry About”
But studies positing connections between cell phone use and cancer have been “controversial” and have frequently been dismissed as conspiracy theories, Moskowitz noted, acknowledging the economic impact that such findings could have on a powerful industry.
Indeed, the Food and Drug Administration has long claimed there is no consistent or credible evidence linking energy emissions from cell phones with any health issues, adding that the limits on such emissions set by the Federal Communications Commission “remain acceptable for protecting the public health.”
The FCC maintains that its limits are safe even for the relatively new 5G technology, about which many scientists who study the effects of cell phone and cell tower radiation on the human body have serious reservations, as we noted in our 11 December 2019 article “FCC: 5G NO PROBLEM?”
California regulators issued a warning in 2017 to the effect that studies had suggested a link between long-term cell phone use and certain cancers. Should such a link prove true, the ubiquitous cell phone would be found to be a greater risk to public health than COVID-19!
In the meantime, it is suggested that one of the simplest ways to decrease risk seems to be to increase the distance between your cell phone and your body whenever possible, particularly when the phone is not in use; keeping the phone in a briefcase, purse or backpack is preferable to carrying it in a pocket or on one’s belt.
TREND FORECAST: Global trend forecaster Gerald Celente warned for decades that despite scientific evidence showing cell phones to be a serious health hazard, even cancer-causing, the industry profiteers would deny it. In fact “Clean Phones” was one of our Top Trends for 2016 (see our 15 August 2018 article Death by cell phone).
Celente notes that from toddlers to aging seniors, digital addiction is pervasive throughout society, a trend that continues to boom with no end in sight.
But while a mass movement to give up cellphones won’t materialize, he forecast that growing segments of the population will seek alternatives that minimize risk.
Just as the Trends Research Institute predicted the birth of the clean-food movement, we predict the rise of “clean phones” for essentially the same reason: A large market sector is ready to put its money where our health is. Thus, safer cell phone devices that are effective, and marketed with “clean phone” branding will corner a rich and growing market segment.
TRENDPOST: As we have noted, when the reports come on the health risks of cellphones, they rarely make the headline news and when they are covered, they are out of news the next day.
And, just as tobacco industry leaders only admitted cigarettes caused cancer in the late 1990s despite the overwhelming proof, so too will profiteers deny the physical and mental risks of cell phones.
As detailed in our 11 July 2019 article, “THE HI-TECH HEROIN TREND,” like tobacco, drug and alcohol addiction, the widespread usage of smartphones have become “gateways” to “tech addiction.”