Page 21 - Florida Sentinel 4-30-21

Health
We do everything with our mobile phones. We order gifts, we find directions, we check on family pictures, we share our ups and downs...oh, and of course we call people too. We are on them so much, many of us fall asleep with cell phones in our bed.
Now, it’s how often we are using these phones that we are at risk of certain diseases. Ac-
cording to the California De- partment Of Public Health, it’s because mobile phones put out radio frequency (RF) energy.
Some scientists and public health officials believe RF en- ergy may affect human health. Although the science is still evolving, some laboratory ex- periments and human health studies have suggested the possibility that long-term, high
use of cell phones may be linked to certain types of can- cer and other health effects, in- cluding:
• brain cancer and tumors of the acoustic nerve (needed for hearing and maintaining bal- ance) and salivary glands
• lower sperm counts and in- active or less mobile sperm
• headaches and effects on learning and memory, hearing,
behavior, and sleep
The notice comes after sev-
eral cities, including Berkeley and San Francisco, issued local warnings that people should make some distance between their phones and their bodies.
While the RF from mobile phones remains at relatively low levels compared to large- scale industrial instruments, research has suggested that our frequent and close-range exposure to mobile phones means it could be enough to put us at risk.
In fact, some smartphone manufacturers like Apple agree and even include an ‘RF exposure’ notice in the iPhone’s settings.
Apple explains that the iPhone’s RF emissions were tested at 5mm from the body, and fall within the US stan- dards of safety, as well as pro- viding advice for reducing
exposure like using speaker- phone or hands-free acces- sories.
Previous studies have shown evidence that mobile phone ex- posure may increase the risk for things like tumors, while psychologists have warned it could also be linked to poor mental health, attention and sleep in teenagers.
The California guidelines warn against close contact when phones have two or fewer bars of signal, when moving in a car, or if you’re trying to receive or send large quantities of data.
Instead of leaning your head on your phone or sleeping with the phone in your bed, the study also suggests using head- sets, sleeping with your phone away from you like on a night stand or across the room and carrying them in a bag instead of in your pocket.
FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 2021 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY PAGE 9-B