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Winter 2002 • Anti-Aging Medical News
phones, and microwaves. RF,particularly at the high end of thecellular phone band and in themicrowave band, can rapidly heatbiological tissue. This heating(“thermal effect”) can cause harmby increasing body temperature,disrupting behavior, and damagingbiological tissue. Early in theshort history of cellular phones,scientists suspected that theradiation caused damage by heating, but subsequently “non-thermal” effects have become of greater concern (see
Mechanisms of Damage
below).
RF Fields
Radio frequency (RF) fields are usedin many facets of everyday life, such asradio and television transmission,mobile telecommunications - namely pagers and cellular telephones, somemedical diagnostic and treatmentequipment, and in industry for heatingand sealing materials. The biologicaleffects of RF are not well understoodbecause the prominence of this form of radiation is a relatively new addition toour everyday EMF landscape.“Cellular telephones are the mostradiative appliance we have everinvented apart from the microwaveoven and people are putting them by their heads - arguably the mostsensitive part of the body,” stated bio-electromagnetics scientist RogerCoghill, who continued that “cellularphones emanate microwave radiation,and human brains may absorb up to 60percent of that energy.” Indeed, thecellular phone is, essentially, a low-powered radiotransceiver (combinationtransmitter and receiver). With the widespread public adoption of cellularphones, there has been a particularfocus of attention on potentialproblems associated with “near fieldRF exposure” - namely, exposure to thehead from the phone.
Types of Cellular Phones &Radiation Emissions
There are three types of cellularphones, categorized based on theradiofrequency at which they transmitand receive. From a health perspective,the signals from each of thesetechnology types are more similar thandifferent in terms of potentialbiological impact:· Analog cellular phones: operate atfrequencies between 824 MHz and894 MHz. As energy hogs, analogphones beam eight times as muchenergy into the user’s head as digitalphones do.· Digital cellular phones: operate atfrequencies between 800 and 900 MHz.· Digital PCS (personalcommunication system) phones: inthe US, PCS operates in the rangeof 1850 MHz to 1990 MHz.NOTE: Global System Mobile (GSM)is the digital standard that operates worldwide outside of the United States.It operates at 900 and 1800 MHz inEurope and Asia, and at 1900 MHz inthe US. The amount of radiation emitted by cellular phones depends on a numberof factors:·The Specific Absorption Rate (SAR)of the unit. The SAR is theamount of RF energy absorbedfrom the phone into the localtissues. SAR varies by cellularphone manufacturer and model,but in the US, all FCC-compliantphones must have a maximum SARless than 1.6 watts per kilogram(W/kg). Information on SAR for aspecific phone model can beobtained for many recently manufactured phones by visitingthe Internet address, www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid, and keyingin the FCC identification numberfor that unit.·Number of “cells” in a geographicalarea, which depends upon thecellular phone traffic in that area.Large cities may have many cellsper square mile, whereas a less-populated, rural area may have asingle cell stretching over severalsquare miles. The farther away acell phone antenna is from its basestation, the higher the power levelneeded to maintain the connection. Very small cells are thereforeassociated with much lowerexposures.·Each geographical cell has a differentnumber of available channels.Cellular phones operate ideally with the least amount of interference from neighboringchannels. To help achieve optimaloperation, cellular phonesautomatically step down to thelowest power level available thatstill maintains a connection withthe base station. On the otherhand, any physical obstacle, such asbuildings or trees, interfering with
Cellular Phone Radiation &Human Brain
Continued from page 3Continued on page 6
“There is currentlyinsufficient scientificbasis for concluding that wireless communicationtechnologies are
safe
orthat they pose a
risk
tomillions of users.”
~ US Federal Drug Administration,February 8, 2000
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