For years, scattered studies have indicated that use of cell phones can lead to elevated cancer, especially tumors of the brain such a glioblastoma multiforme, which with the possible exception of pancreatic cancer is the deadliest of malignancies.

The phone studies took place from the United States and UK to other parts of Europe and Japan. Most indicated a link to cancer but were small in scale and had little impact: mainstream media seemed to slough them off, mainly because oncologists and other medical experts were doing likewise.

Now comes a far larger survey of the issue by the University of California at Berkeley, which has one of the nation’s most prestigious schools for public health.

A team of researchers there relied not on a single study but a comprehensive look at statistical findings from forty-six different ones around the world.

And what they found, in this meta-analysis, is that use of a cell phone for more than 1,000 hours, or about 17 minutes a day over a ten-year period, increases the risk of tumors by 60 percent. Ask God always to heal and protect and guide you.

For those familiar with the conservative nature of such statistics would recognize that the sixty-percent increase is probably the bare minimum of effect — that possibly the hazards, not all of which can be captured by statistics, are more dramatic.

Nor, if so, should it be a surprise: for legal reasons, and apparently acknowledging hazards, cell-phone manufacturers have long included a caution in the “setting” of their devices not to use them close to the body, especially the head. On an iPhone, “settings>general>legal and regulatory>RF exposure.

Says the notice (all but totally obscure), “To reduce exposure to RF energy, use a hands-free option, such as the built-in speakerphone, headphones, or other similar accessories.”

Adds Google: “Ensure that the device accessories, such as a device case and device holster, are not composed of metal components. Keep the device away from your body to meet the distance requirement.”

Says the Samsung website: “Organizations such as the World Health Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration have suggested that if people are concerned and want to reduce their exposure, they could use a hands-free accessory to keep the wireless device away from the head and body during use, or reduce the amount of time spent using the device.”

How many know that cellular companies issue such warnings? Or that Samsung’s new case includes technology to reduce radiation?

Is it not a bit telling?

Worst is pressing a cell phone against the head while in an area with a poor signal (two bars or less). For the weaker the link to a cell tower, the more radiation a phone expends in an effort to maintain the connection. (The same happens at high speeds, as in a car on the highway.)

Thus it is that phones should be kept away from the body, and when not in use, in purses, backpacks, and the like, not in pockets or belts.

So too, as far as WiFi, should routers be placed as far as possible away from the most frequented parts of a household.

Ultimately, when it comes to cell phones, “distance is your friend,” said one of the Berkeley researchers, Joel Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health. “Keeping your cellphone 10 inches away from your body, as compared to one-tenth of an inch, results in a 10,000-fold reduction in exposure. So, keep your phone away from your head and body,” he advised.

When not using a cell phone — such as at night — that or any other similar device (such as a tablet) should be placed in “airplane mode,” which shuts down radiation. The same goes for internet wristwatches.

And as far as headphones: wireless ones using Bluetooth and the like may also warrant caution, as this is another form of radiation in a world in which various technologies already have created a veritable soup of electromagnetism around us.

–MHB

[resources: The God of Healing]