On the September 16th, 2014 edition of Your Call, Rose Aguilar has a conversation with filmmaker, Kevin Kunze about the documentary film Mobilize. The film explores the potential long-term health effects from cell phone radiation as well as the latest scientific research on the issue. Learn what science tell us about cell phone radiation health hazards and find out just how safe cell phones really are.
Special Guests:
Joel Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health
Kevin Kunze, Bay Area-based filmmaker and the director of the documentary Mobilize
Web Q&A Resource:
Mobilize: A Film on Cell Phone Radiation http://www.mobilizemovie.com/
Is the legal limit sufficient to protect the cell phone user’s health?
U.S. Federal policies and practices lead the public to believe that all legally-marketed cell phones are safe, and that a cell phone’s SAR doesn’t matter as long as it meets the legal limit: 1.6 watts per kilogram.
The Environmental Working Group and other scientific experts point out that the SAR only measures the maximum microwave absorption from cell phone use that perfectly matches laboratory conditions. The SAR is not a good indicator of one’s cumulative microwave exposure under natural conditions. The evidence suggests that how one uses the phone (e.g., hands-free) and one’s cell phone carrier actually matters a great deal more than the phone’s SAR level.
The SAR standard was developed to protect users only from the acute effects of the heat generated by microwave radiation (i.e., the thermal effect). The SAR limit does not protect users from non-thermal effects of cell phone radiation.
Yet, hundreds of laboratory studies with animals and cell samples have found deleterious biologic effects from short-term exposure to low intensity cell phone radiation, including development of stress proteins, micronuclei, free radicals, DNA breakage, and sperm damage. Human studies have also found that brief exposure to cell phone radiation alters brain activity and can open the blood-brain barrier which could enable any chemical toxins in the blood system to penetrate the brain.
Major studies with humans have found increased cancer risk, including a three-fold increase in brain cancer among those who used wireless phones (cell phones and cordless phones) for 25 or more years. Largely based upon this research, the World Health Organization in 2011 declared radiofrequency radiation possibly carcinogenic in humans (Group 2B).
Other risks from cell phone use include reproductive health damage and male infertility, and neurological disorders (e.g., impaired cognitive functioning, headaches and migraines, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder).
Based upon the weight of the evidence from several decades of research, many experts worldwide have signed declarations calling upon government to adopt stronger radiation standards to protect consumers from low intensity, non-thermal exposures from radiation associated with wireless communications, and to alert consumers about how to reduce their risk of harm.
Electromagnetic Radiation Safety: Health effects of electromagnetic radiation exposure from cell phones, Wi-Fi, and Smart Meters, and strategies to reduce potential harm. http://www.saferemr.com/
