Another day, another technology scare.

Yesterday the World Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer issued a press release here. The body of this press release says: 

“The WHO /International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified radio frequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (group 2B) based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, associated with wireless phone use.”

Sounds scary right? Does this mean that what smoking and lung cancer were to our parent's generation, cell phones and brain cancer will be to ours?

I’ll give you a brief lesson (my high school science teacher would be so proud):

Cell phones use a powerful form of microwave energy called electromagnetic radiation (or EMR) to communicate with cell towers. EMR is energy that travels in waves through space. As you can guess by the name, it has electric and magnetic properties. The measurement of EMR is based on the frequency of its waves.  EMR within one wavelength of the user is called Near Field Intensity (or NFI), when you hold your cell phone to your ear, you are absorbing some of this radiation.

Since I am clearly not a doctor or a scientist, I won’t claim to understand all of the underlying research in the WHO release, the full body of which will be published in a few days online.  What I do know however, is that scientists have been telling us not to hold our cell phones right against our bodies for years (Read here ). In fact, if you’ve ever actually read your cell phone manual you’ll know that cell phone manufacturers give warnings, asking users to keep cell phones at least 15mm away from the body.  The confusing part about all of this latest message from the WHO is that other reputable organizations like The American Cancer Society don’t necessarily agree with the current research (Read here).  

Whichever side you choose to stand on, I think we would all agree that it’s better to be safe than sorry, and luckily there are some easy ways to reduce your exposure to cell phone radiation:

  Use Bluetooth headsets when you’re on a call;

  Put your phone in sleep or airplane mode when you’re sleeping with your phone on your bedside table;

  Text more often (it makes sense right? You’re keeping your phone at arm's length);

  If your geeklings are playing with your cell phone, turn the send and receive function off – why expose them to more than they need?

  If you’d feel more comfortable with a more hardcore solution you can also purchase a radiation blocking case.

In the past, companies have tried to reduce EMR by making cases to fit cell phones that would block the waves from reaching your head. The problem with these cases was that they would do as they promised – they would block not only the NFI wave, but they would also block some of the Far Field Intensity (FFI) waves needed to communicate with the cell towers and call quality would drop. The cases were, as you can imagine, as physically ugly as their performance.

This is where company Pong Research comes in. They sell the only case approved by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to protect users from cell phone radiation. They have cases available for BlackBerry and iPhone, and soon Android phones, that claim to reduce 95% of your exposure to cell phone radiation.

From Pong’s website, Pong™ Case Features:

•    Protect your head and body from unnecessary radiation exposure
•    Reduce concerns about possible health risks
•    Minimalist, silicone form fit design covers all corners and sides
•    Pong micro-thin antennae module reduces your exposure to cell-phone radiation
•    Access to all ports and functions
•    Pong may even enhance your phone's signal strength

The case looks sleek enough, and fits tightly to the phone. It’s a little pricey, but if it does what it claims to, I’ll be purchasing a couple for our house.

The cell phone radiation debate seems to be heating up, and is certainly an interesting one.  What are your thoughts? How often do you use your cell phone? Are you scared about what this means for your kids? Is this the most important 'Cancer' issue of our time?