Should We Be Worried About Cell Phones and Cancer?
by Ryan Young
CNN reports: “Last summer, Dr. Ronald Herberman, then director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, issued a warning to about 3,000 faculty and staff, listing steps to avoid harmful electromagnetic radiation from cell phones.”
“Electromagnetic radiation” is a fancy way of saying light waves.
Herberman has been on his cell phone crusade for a while now; I diagnosed him with a severe case of The Certainty last year.
Still, let’s assume he’s right that cell phones cause tumors. What actions should be taken? I present the following CDC data on leading causes of death as a way to guide our priorities:
-- Heart disease: 631,636
-- Cancer: 559,888
-- Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 137,119
-- Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 124,583
-- Accidents (unintentional injuries): 121,599
-- Diabetes: 72,449
-- Alzheimer’s disease: 72,432
-- Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,326
-- Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 45,344
-- Septicemia: 34,234
Deaths from cancer attributable to cell phone use? Zero. There is an important lesson to be learned here.
Think of it like this: every dollar and every hour of researchers’ time spent investigating cancer risks from cell phones is money and time not spent curing heart disease. Or cancer itself. Or stroke. These “big three” combine to end more than a million lives each and every year.
Which is a better use of limited research resources? Herberman, by bringing funding and attention to a non-issue, is quite possibly costing lives that could otherwise be saved.
The Certainty has very high costs. In Herberman’s case, measurable in lives.
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This write up struck me as so bizarre I took a few minutes to look up this Competitive Enterprise Institute outfit. Talk about loonytunes!
They argue poor Bernie Madoff shouldn't have gotten such a harsh sentence for ripping off billions, harming thousands upon thousands of investors and totally wiping out businesses and charities whose only fault was trusting the scumbag.
They argue the FDA is being unfair in focusing on mercury poisoning from fish, because it doesn't balance the positives of consuming fish loaded with heavy metals.
They argue what a terrible thing it would be if the Federal government had authority under antitrust laws to hold insurance companies accountable for things like fraud, corruption, price fixing and market manipulation.
Considering the above, it's not exactly a surprise they would lobby to stomp on research suggesting microwave radiation from cell phones fries your brain.
Some other sources might be worth considering:
http://www.radiationtalk.com/default.html
Apparently, a male using a cell phone 4 hours a day for ten years becomes infertile. Nice, huh? Maybe that's a plus. When you die of cancer , you won't have to worry about providing for any children after you're gone.
Oh well. If one have a journalism background that includes the National Lampoon or the Weekly World News, these guys must be more fun than kittens to work for.