Slog - Comments on If It Ain't One Thing...

Comment by josh

josh — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:23:59 -0800

even if this is true (which I doubt), doubling the risk of brain cancer (which is extremely rare) hardly makes cell phones "more dangerous" than smoking.

Comment by Fifty-Two-Eighty

Fifty-Two-Eighty — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:35:48 -0800

Yes, and the entire second half of the article is devoted to what a kook this is. But you couldn't say that, of course, because that wouldn't be sensational.

Comment by umvue

umvue — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:36:27 -0800

Crank.

http://www.brain-surgery.us/mobph.pdf

Fucking crank.

Comment by sammyonrye

sammyonrye — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:41:58 -0800

well great...here I quit smoking and now i get a brain tumor instead...maybe I can smoke my cell phone.

Comment by Queen_of_Sleaze

Queen_of_Sleaze — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:43:52 -0800

I refuse to believe that my sweet little Blackberry would ever do anything to hurt me. He just sits over there looking so adorable and blinks his cute little red light so I know to come over and read another dirty text message... That little guy wouldn't harm a fly!

I love you little Blackberry :)

Comment by Hernandez

Hernandez — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:44:53 -0800

"Yes, but what�s the risk of using a cell phone while smoking and driving?"

You forgot to add obesity to the equation.

Comment by scharrera

scharrera — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:45:28 -0800

One of my 3 friends (seriously, ages 45, 38, and 37) recently diagnosed with brain cancer was told by his doc to never, ever, hold his phone to his head again. Instead he said use the headset (not bluetooth either).

Comment by Fifty-Two-Eighty

Fifty-Two-Eighty — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:08:10 -0800

Your BlackBerry blinks? Wow, you must have one of the older ones.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:28:50 -0800

There's no risk.

Until you try to turn and break while your cigarette falls out into your lap as you try to use your Crackberry ...

Comment by Queen_of_Sleaze

Queen_of_Sleaze — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:52:54 -0800

It less than two weeks old, FYI... Hence my passionate love affair with it. And as far as I know they all blink unless you tell them not too. My Pearl blinked too, but he got old and kicked to the curb... Cuz thats what happens when you get old. Hehehe. Personally I like the friendly little blinking. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Confidential to Will:

Driving while crackberrying is dangerous... Irresistable... But dangerous :)

Comment by NapoleonXIV

NapoleonXIV — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:01:27 -0800

Yes, but what�s the risk of using a cell phone while smoking and driving?

I dunno. Singed earlobe?

Comment by Gabriel

Gabriel — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:02:58 -0800

Here, calm down/

Comment by ellarosa

ellarosa — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:59:16 -0800

thanks, gabriel @12. summed it up nicely. i also noticed how "unscientific" the bolds looked. even though i am unqualified to judge many of the claims in the original paper--THAT was a red flag.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:32:10 -0800

@10 - I know. Even if you're stopped in traffic on I-90 ...

Comment by MarkyMark

MarkyMark — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:13:04 -0800

After giving this some consideration, I find that I'm not at all disturbed by the thought of heavy cell-phone users dying early.

Comment by Adam G

Adam G — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:53:02 -0800

Nicely done Gabriel. This article reminds me of one I read some years back in the nytimes. So I searched their now free archives, yay free archives, and found this:

Do cellphones generate the kinds of radiation that could conceivably cause cancer? Dr. Robert L. Park of the American Physical Society addressed that question last year in an editorial in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

''All known cancer-inducing agents -- including radiation, certain chemicals and a few viruses -- act by breaking chemical bonds, producing mutant strands of DNA,'' Dr. Park wrote. ''Not until the ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum is reached, beyond visible light, beyond infrared and far, far beyond microwaves, do photons have sufficient energy to break chemical bonds. Microwave photons heat tissue, but they do not come close to the energy needed to break chemical bonds, no matter how intense the radiation.''

In other words, cellphones, which operate with radio frequencies in the microwave range, do not emit ionizing radiation, the type that damages DNA. So I would say at this point, cancer is the least of one's worries when it comes to using cellphones.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E5DA1438F932A35753C1A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

Fox News!
We report *Sensationalist headlines without one fucking second of fact checking* You decide *to stop reading Fox*

Comment by Mike

Mike — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:27:25 -0800

Thanks for posting, that Adam. I just came here to scream "This is non-ionizing radiation, people!" but you beat me to it, and in a much more intelligent manner.

There is no known mechanism by which cell phone radiation could cause brain cancer. Hell, it's more plausible that chemicals in the phone's plastic case are leeching through your skin and skull, causing brain cancer. If you're worried about that, never touch anything plastic again.