Electromagnetic waves, health risk?

In many countries they are used by more than 50% of the population and it is a market that does not stop growing every year. Given the huge number of mobile phone users, it is important to research and understand the health implications of their use.

What about mobiles

Mobiles communicate with each other using radio waves through a network of fixed antennas called base stations. The radio frequency waves through which these phones communicate are electromagnetic fields that, unlike ionizing radiation, such as X-rays or gamma radiation, do not have the ability to break chemical bonds in molecules or cause ionization in the molecules. cells of the human body.

Mobile phones transmit low power radio frequency waves, ranging from 450 to 2700 MHz, with a peak power of at most 2 watts. The mobile only transmits power when it is turned on. The exposure of the mobile user to radio frequency waves will depend on the power of the mobile. This power greatly decreases when the distance between the person and the mobile device is increased. When writing text messages, surfing the Internet or using the hands-free mode, exposure levels drop dramatically, while these increase when we speak on the device in a phone call or sending a voice message.

Obviously, exposure to radio frequency waves also decreases if the number of calls and their duration are limited. Likewise, using the telephone in areas with good coverage means that the mobile device has to work at lower power, which also reduces exposure.

Is there a health risk?

A large number of studies have been carried out to try to determine whether mobile phones can carry health risks. However, as of today it has not been confirmed that the use of mobile phones is a clear damage to health. However, it is true that a series of health effects have been seen in certain people.

• In the short term, the main consequence of exposure to electromagnetic waves It is the increase in temperature of the exposed tissues. In the case of the frequencies used by mobile phones, most of the energy is absorbed by the skin and other superficial tissues, so that the possible increase in temperature that could occur in the brain or other organs of the body is practically null.

Various studies have investigated the effects of radio frequency fields on brain electrical activity, cognition, sleep, heart rate, and blood pressure. At the moment, these studies seem to show that there is no scientific evidence that exposure to radio frequency fields lower than those that cause tissue heating has any detrimental effect on health.

Likewise, it has not been possible to prove that there is a cause-effect relationship between exposure to electromagnetic fields and certain symptoms reported by some patients, a phenomenon known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity. These people report suffering from headaches, insomnia, irritability, anxiety or mood disturbances.

• Epidemiological investigations studying the possible long-term risks of exposure to radio frequency waves have focused on finding a link between brain tumors and the use of mobile phones. However, since many types of cancer are not detected until many years after possible contact that could cause the tumor and the use of mobile phones did not become widespread until the early 1990s, epidemiological studies can only look at the types of cancer today. of cancer that manifest in a shorter period of time. Despite everything, the results of studies carried out with animals agree that long-term exposure to radio frequency fields does not significantly increase the risk of suffering from a.

International Studies

Various international epidemiological studies are under way in which various endpoints of these exposures in adults are being evaluated. The largest retrospective study in this regard, called INTERPHONE, was designed to establish whether there were links between mobile phone use and head and neck cancer in adults. The analysis of international data from 13 participating countries did not show an increase in suffering from certain types of brain cancers (and meningioma) with the use of mobile phones for more than 10 years, despite there being discrepant data, especially in people with a high number of accumulated hours of exposure.

Based on these and other results, the International Agency for Research on cancer (IARC) has classified radio frequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (group 2B), a category that is used when it is considered that a causal association could be credible, but that chance, biases or confounders cannot be ruled out for sure.

Although the data obtained from studies such as INTERPHONE do not indicate an increased risk of suffering from brain tumors, the increasing use of mobile phones and the lack of data regarding its use for more than 15 years make the need for further research essential. the relationship of the use of these devices with the risk of contracting brain cancer. Given that mobile phones are used increasingly at younger ages and, consequently, the probability of prolonged exposure increases dramatically, the World Health Organization (WHO) has promoted the study of the effects of electromagnetic radiation on health of children and adolescents.

Cautions

It is practically impossible for us not to use the mobile today, but we can try to take a series of precautions:

• Limit the number and duration of calls.
• Choose to send text messages instead of calling.
• Do not carry it in your pockets to keep it away from the genitals.
• Opt for speakerphone mode or use air tube headphones.
• Turn off the mobile at night.
• Turn off the wifi at night and not have it in the bedroom.

• Exposure to radio frequency waves is reduced by limiting the number of calls and their duration.
• Using the phone in areas with good coverage means that the mobile device has to work at lower power, which also reduces exposure.
• Many studies have been carried out, but to date it has not been confirmed that the use of mobile phones is a clear damage to health.