Tough call: Users get confused on health impact

Technology, which we often take for granted, sometimes puts us in a great dilemma. With the burgeoning numbers of cellphone users ? more than 1,500,000,000 people worldwide already ? debates are now converging on its unexpected risks and unintended consequences on human health. Almost every other day studies come up with an opposite and atrocious explanation on the health impact of cellphones. Users get confused. Even the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports, ?The available evidence does not allow us to conclude that cellular phones are absolutely safe, or that they are unsafe.?

Sadly, very few researches on cellphone safety are carried out worldwide, let alone in India. Much of the funds for research are coming from the vendors and manufacturers, which obviously feature a level of bias. It?s like a fox guarding the henhouse. These are customised peer reviews, based on hidden sponsorships.

Government agencies should now conduct their own tests, before anyone and everyone gives verdicts. Amid the half-truths, exaggerations and hidden agendas, there?s nobody you can trust.

Some time ago, a group of scientists deduced that the level of radiation emitted by cellphones represents a serious health risk to adults and children, one with potentially far-reaching effects, such as increasing the rate of cancer and learning disabilities in children. Laboratory studies have suggested that the radio-frequencies can damage living tissues, cause headaches and temperature rise in the brain.

Most large-scale epidemiological studies, however, have failed to find a link among them. Since the effects of exposure to carcinogens are generally cumulative over time, a few studies, in effect, say, ?The epidemic may emerge in 2020. And, of course, it may not happen at all.?

Many scientists believe the radiation from mobile phone headsets is too weak to break or damage the chemical bonds of the DNA in living tissue and cause cancer. This month, a comprehensive study by the Danish Cancer Society supported earlier studies that found no links between brain tumours and mobile phones.

The devices simply haven?t been in use long enough for any such claims and more clinical data is needed. The conflicting evidences till date have suffered from flaws in their research methods. The available science does not allow us to conclude that mobile phones are absolutely safe.

Recently we were told that the numbers of cellphone users touched the one crore mark in India ? the fastest growth in the usage of any technology our country has adapted into. But we are yet to have an agency which can set safety guidelines.