by Lefteri Theodorakis
 All around the world, millions of people have cell phones and use them every day.
Since cell phones were created they have become a major part of our lives.
Newer hybrid cell phones, like the BlackBerry, are not even phones at all, but more like handheld personal computers that users base their entire life on.
The cell phone has made its way into our lives and has never let go, becoming the necessity that every person needs to have.
A recent study by Dr. Vini Khurana (who is well known for over 100 studies on cell phone usage) shows that the cell phones we are all so fond of have are “more dangerous than smoking or asbestos.”
Smoking kills around 5 million people worldwide each year and asbestos in the thousands.
He states, “people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take immediate steps to reduce exposure to radiation.”
His study showed that using handsets for 10 or more years can double the risk for brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop, which makes previous studies about cell phone safety invalid.
Dr. Khurana further states that cell phones may be useful for emergencies but concludes, “there is a significant and increasing body of evidence for a link between mobile phone usage and brain tumors.”
He believes that this will “definitely be proven” within the next 10 years.
According to Dr. Khurana, unless “the industry and governments take immediate and decisive steps,” the cases of malignant brain tumors will be too severe to be able to interfere medically.
Countries like France and Germany have warned against the use of mobile phones. Also, the European Environmental Agency advises people to minimize headset use and have called for reduced exposures.
Keep in mind this is the first study of its kind, attempting to link cell phones directly to cancer causing carcinogens and comparing them to be more deadly than smoking.
However, other studies have been done to show the link to cell phone usage and brain cancer.
A 1997 study showed mounting evidence that cell phone usage as well as radar guns that police officers use were linked to electromagnetic radiation and that these products may not be as safe as advertised.
The study was done by a group of scientists, funded by the cell phone company Telstra (located in Australia).
They conducted the study on a group of 200 mice, using pulsed digital radiation or the same radiation equal to cell phone usage of two half an hour periods a day.
The results showed a doubling of cancer rates in the mice over a period of 18 months with a disease known as lymphomas (swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck).
Still, cell phone companies as well as most governments believe there is no harm in the usage of cell phones.
Dr. Alan Harris from the Walter and Eliza Institute in Melbourne believes, “this is important because at the present, there was no convincing evidence that radio fields (in contrast to X rays, gamma rays, ultraviolet and atomic radiation) can directly cause the changes in genes responsible for cancer development.”
They are aware that ionizing radiation in gamma and x rays can increase cancer risks by causing DNA changes in the body.
In the end, it is up to the government and cell phone companies to intervene and change cell phone radiation levels or produce more baseline data supporting their case.
Dr. Khurana is alone on his views as the Mobile Operators Association called his study “a selective discussion of scientific literature by one individual.” The choice is then left down to cell phone users themselves, and only time will tell if Dr. Khuranas study and the other studies that have been conducted are legit.
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