19 October 2010
Washington, DC USA
Cellphones–a basic necessity to us like water, food–emit radiation that is harmful for us, a new book has suggested.
In her new book, "Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family," Devra Davis, an environmental health has probed why cell phone radiation is now a "national emergency."
"Among the most stunning new findings is evidence that you can cause birth defects in mice embryos from cell phone radiation. Researchers at the University of Athens looked at fatal development and studied pregnant mice exposed to smart phones. And they looked at the offspring of the mice and they found basic defects in their brain structure and skeleton," ABC News quoted Davis as saying.
"In one study, they showed significant damage in the exposed mice embryos. And they showed, for example, mice normally have 13 pairs of ribs and the exposed mice sometimes had less or their cartilage was ossified, meaning it was kind of fused. And they showed other defects in the skeleton and head bone that were associated with the radiation from the smartphone – to 3G smartphones.
"Other work that’s been done has to do with damage to the ovaries and testes of the fruit fly. The fruit fly, as you may know, has been very well studied by science and they have shown that the ovaries and testes of a fruitful can be shrivelled up by radiation," she said.
Meanwhile, the wireless industry says that the amount of radiation emitted by cell phones is very low.
"It’s not the amount of radiation, it’s the nature of the signal, because, in fact, these phones are very, very weak. They’re very low–power but it’s the pulsed, digital nature of the signal that I’m more concerned about," she said.
In her book, Davis said the nature of the signal is especially harmful because it is constantly searching for a connection with a cell tower. Exposure is increased in areas of weak reception because the radio signal has to increase as the phone seeks a connection.
"I think the impact on fertility and sterility should be way up. Sperm naturally will die but the sperm exposed to cell phone radiation dies faster and don’t swim as well," added Davis.
Davis also said that in addition to brain illness, memory loss is a serious issue.
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