Did you know that some items that you
cherish the most could expose you to cancer and other illnesses when you
do not use them properly?
Though they were invented to make life easier, their abuse or misuse could pose great danger to our health.
The mobile telephone, according to
Consultant Oncologist, (cancer specialist), Dr. Segun Kayode, is the
device to watch out for. He says the advent of the mobile phone has been
linked to the prevalence of breast, prostate and brain cancer.
Kayode explains that mobile telephones
are not just powered by stored energy cells, but also they use
electromagnetic radiation and ionising gamma rays, which can alter the
genetic makeup of body cells when they are exposed to its rays for a
long period.
“The technology of the mobile phone is
such that it emits radiation. As the radiation penetrates the body
tissue, it causes it to heat up. When the cells are at a temperature
that is too high for them naturally, they get denatured and become
useless. When there is altering in function, they begin to malfunction.
“Electromagnatic radiation also leads to
DNA damage, which is the actual link to cancer. You hold the source of
the emission, which is the phone, close to your brain that is why we
have linked it with cancer of the brain too and there is evidence to
back it up. There are claims that people who have had brain tumours had
it in the exact size, shape and position as the shape where they placed
their cell phone,” he states.
Doctors note that children and teenagers
who use mobile phones are at greatest risk—both for parotid gland
tumours and brain tumours—as their thinner skull bones allow for greater
penetration of cell phone radiation.
Scientists say the phone’s radiation can
enter all the way into their midbrain, where tumours are more deadly. In
addition, children’s cells reproduce more quickly, so they are more
susceptible to aggressive cell growth. Children also face a far greater
lifetime exposure.
Studies by Swedish doctors shows that
those who begin using cell phones heavily as teenagers have four to five
times higher risk of developing cancer of the brain when compared to
adults.
Even the World Health Organisation places
the cell phone radiation as class B-carcinogenic. Kayode defines a
carcinogenic substance or radiation as anything that has the potential
of fostering the production of cancerous cells in the body.
The global body in a report with the
International Agency for Research states that cell phones may indeed
cause cancer, and classifies radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as
carcinogenic and a possible danger to humans.
The classification came in part in
response to research conducted by the WHO in collaboration with IAR,
which shows that wireless telephones increase the risk of an individual
developing cancer of the brain.
The number of cell phone users was
estimated to be approximately five billion in 2011 and that number has
continued to climb; it is safe to admit that we are already past the
point of repairing any possible damage.
However, you need not fear, not everybody
that has a mobile telephone will develop cancer. Scientists say that
the way in which you use it and where you place it after using it, are
the factors that would determine whether one is at risk for the side
effects of this technology, which include paralysis.
Men in particular may want to reconsider
carrying their cell phones on their belts or in their pocket, in close
proximity of their reproductive organs.
In addition, you have a number of other
sensitive organs in that general area, including liver, kidneys, colon
and bladder—all of which are susceptible to radiation, which causes
cancer at the end of the day.
For example, research published in 2009
by two cancer specialists, Dr. Robert Nagourney and Dr. John West,
showed evidence that wearing a cell phone on ones hip may weaken an area
of your pelvis to cause osteoporosis and paralysis.
The physicians, after measuring the
pelvic bone density of 150 men, who regularly carried their cell phones
attached to their belts and those, who carried their phones for an
average of 15 hours each day, and had used cell phones for an average of
six years, found that they had low mineral and bone density.
According to them, the electromagnetic
field emission by their cell phones has reduced their pelvic and bone
size, which could predispose them to paralysis.
West says, “It is important to realise
that as long as your cell phone is on, it emits radiation
intermittently, even when you are not actually making a call. So,
wearing a cell phone on your hip for 15 hours a day is giving that area
of your body nearly continuous radiation exposure which is not good for
the body.”
It is not just cancer, previous studies
have a found that cell phone radiation can affect men’s sperm count, and
the quality and motility of their sperm, and this may be a far greater
issue than its effect on the bones around the male pelvic region.
