Cell Phones: Useful Tools or Harmful Killers? | Teen Ink

Cell Phones: Useful Tools or Harmful Killers?

June 4, 2012
By Camran_K BRONZE, Columbia, Maryland
Camran_K BRONZE, Columbia, Maryland
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Whenever a new technology becomes widely used, skepticism grows as to its harmful effects. As the world reached the peak of the twentieth century, many consumers were wondering if the use of cell phones was bad for the brain, and if this could potentially cause cancer. As more and more questions arose, researchers began the long and painstaking process of trying to determine whether or not cell phones are hazardous to human health.

The process in which cell phones retrieve the information from cellular waves is called demodulation. Demodulation is the process in which a cellular device changes the frequency of the cellular waves, and then changes the magnitude once more when the waves are received. This process involves changing the frequency and magnitude of the cellular waves so that the waves contain more energy when the phone receives them as opposed to when the waves are being sent through the airwaves. Through this process the cell phone retrieves information from these waves, such as telephone calls and text messages. Nevertheless frequency distortion has caused many researchers to wonder if the changing frequency of the cellular waves affected the brain.

Many research studies have produced neutral, inconclusive results. Some of the major studies that have been done regarding cell phone use and cancer include studies done by the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Institute of Health (NIH), and Dr. Lennart Hardell’s study. The WHO study reported neutral results that cells phone cause cancer; the NIH study concluded that cell phones increase the body temperature minutely but couldn’t determine the correlation that temperature change had with brain cancer. Dr. Hardell’s study determined that cell phones do cause cancer, but his methods were regarded by the medical community as illogical and unethical.

Dr. Hardell is a Swedish researcher who has been known to use questionable research tactics in his work. He used a system of research that involved asking cancer patients a questionnaire, which included questions about their daily cell phone use. The cancer patients would then respond unreliably because they would believe that their cancer was due to cell phones after reading the survey. Dr. Hardell repeated this study three times and each time found positive results. At this time these studies are only ones that have shown that cell phones cause cancer.

For a scientific concept to be proven the physical aspect must prove the biological aspect. The physics principles behind how cell phones operate do not match the accusation that cell phones cause cancer. Also, medical studies have not produced results that correlate with the claim that cell phones cause cancer. When a cell phone is used, the energy of the cellular wave moves through the skull and into the brain. The energy is then transferred from cell to cell exponentially until the energy is spread throughout the brain; this process increases the temperature of the brain ever so slightly. This extremely small amount of energy is then pumped throughout the body via the bloodstream. This process of heating occurs daily with the human body naturally; the body is warmer during the morning than it is during the night, if this natural process does not cause cancer, then how can cell phones? Over course of my research, with the information that has been determined to this day regarding cell phones and cancer, I have come to the stark conclusion that with the information known at this time, cell phones cannot cause cancer.


The author's comments:
This article was written as a product of a year long research project on cell phones and their correlation to brain cancer. I would like to thank my adviser for his year-long support.

Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.