Health impact of mobile and wireless devices

Description:

The number of mobile and wireless devices are growing rapidly e.g. in the UK there were 4.5 million mobile phones in 1995 as opposed to 50 million in 2000 and worldwide mobile phone sales increased from .43 million in 2002 to .51 million in 2003.

Like all other radio communication applications, mobile telephony uses radio waves to carry the information, like voice, text and images, through the air. Radio waves are a kind of electromagnetic fields (EMF) that are also called radio frequency fields or radio frequency energy. Electromagnetic fields are present in our every day life, both naturally and from man-made sources.

When a person is exposed to the radio waves from mobile phones or base stations, most of the energy will be reflected by the body or travel around it (called diffraction). Some of the energy will however be absorbed in the tissues at the surface of the body. Inside the body certain molecules, like water, will start to move or rotate due to the presence of the electromagnetic fields. By "friction" the energy is converted into heat. If the radio wave intensity is very high, the heating may be significant and potentially detrimental.

Since the introduction of mobile phones, there has been concerns over the possible health effects of these devices because of the emission of radiofrequency(RF) radiation. However the increasingly widespread use suggests that users are unaware of any possible health effects. In May 2000, the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones published a report that recommended a cautionary approach to the use of mobile phone technology until conclusive evidence could be found on any health effects. This recommendation was taken because scientific evidence suggested that there could be possible biological effects from the radiofrequency radiation even below the recommended level. Since then there has been no hard evidence to suggest adverse health effects.

Enablers:

• Growing number of mobile and wireless devices.
• Fairly recent widespread use of mobile phone technology.
• Technology is developing at a pace that outstrips the analysis of potential impact on health.
• Scientific data suggests that RF(radiofrequency) fields can interfere with biological systems.
• Long term epidermiological studies haven't been carried out and evaluated due to the fact that the technology is still recent.
• Increase in acoustic neuromas in people in Sweden with more than 10 years mobile phone usage.
• Recent findings suggested possible effects on brain function from use of 3G phones.
• Populations are not homogeneous and people vary in susceptibility to environmental challenges.
• Children are more susceptible to RF radiation because of their developing nervous system and a longer lifetime of exposure.

Inhibitors:

• Stricter exposure guidelines for the general public. Limits set at 50 times below level that could cause any health effects according to current research.
• Use of headsets or handfree devices to limit exposure to RF radiation
• Audit of base stations especially those located in busy areas.

Paradigms:

With the conflict in the Middle East, there has been growing concern over the availability of oil in the Middle East. Experts have also said that there is only another 40 years of crude oil left. Geologists are suggesting that global oil production could peak and decline steeply much sooner, increasing oil prices. Non-OPEC oil producing countries are already nearing peak production leaving most of the reserves in the unstable Middle East. Increasing tensions between Islam and the West will likely threaten access to affordable oil.

Experts:

Petroleum geologists

Timing:

• Around 900 AD, coal was discovered and was soon widely used. The population rose to 1 billion in 1800.
• In 1850, crude oil was discovered in Romania, and in 1859 the first North American oil well went into operation. Machinery availability and usage increased. In 1930, there were 2 billion people; in 1960, 3 billion; in 1974, 4; in 1987, 5; and in 1999, there were 6 billion inhabitants of this planet.
• In 1933 Viktor Schauberger, in his book “Unserer sinnlos Arbeit” (Our Senseless Toil), wrote: “The temperature on earth is a product of balancing processes involving carbonaceous matter in the earth (note: Schauberger used “carbonaceous matter” to mean all organic and mineral matter like coal, crude oil, natural gas, minerals etc. excluding oxygen and hydrogen) and the oxygen that penetrates the earth dissolved in rainwater. When all this highly organised carbonaceous mater is extracted from the earth by humans, these balanced processes will be interrupted. As a result the outer layer of the earth will cool down and the atmosphere will become colder.
• At the end of 2004, world proven crude oil reserves stood at 1,144,013 million barrels, of which 896,659 million barrels, or 78.4 per cent, was in OPEC Member Countries.
• According to the reference case of OPEC's World Energy Model (OWEM), total world oil demand in 2000 is put at 76 million barrels per day, As world economic growth continues, crude oil demand will also rise to 90.6m b/d in 2010 and 103.2m b/d by 2020.

Web Resources:

• [1] http://www.hpa.org.uk/radiation/publications/documents_of_nrpb/pdfs/doc_15_5.pdf
• [2] http://www.dataquest.com/press_gartner/quickstats/phone.html
• [3] http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/corporate_responsibility/health/files/English/EN_brochure_Mobile_communications_2006.pdf