Does Cell Phone Cause Cancer - Essay Example

Does cell phone cause cancer? Cell phone is the companion of a person in current world as children to old people use it. This technological inventionhas pervaded the human society and people cannot think about a life without it. Around the world, people are getting more and more obsessed about cell phones. The technology is exploring and bringing out new cell phones with dynamic features and application which immerse people more into its use. The bad part is that, cell phone is used excessively by people and there is lot of concern among medical experts that it can lead to cancer. The cell phone causes radiation and it’s prolong interference with human body is the reason for such a concern. As people use cell phone regularly and as it causes radiation it can cause cancer. The cell phone causing cancer is a controversial issue because some do not accept that this statement true. The scientific world has not gathered enough evidence to prove that cell phone can cause cancer. The assumption is based on the fact that the cell phone causes radiation. And radiation is a main reason for cancer. A continuous exposure to radiation is a fact that can convince the connection of cancer with cell phone use (NCI) .In theory, children have the potential to be at greater risk than adults for developing brain cancer from cell phones. Their nervous systems are still developing and therefore more vulnerable to factors that may cause cancer. So an examination of cell phone use and its effect on human body need to be studied. Scientists have been alerting people about the adverse effect of cell phone on humans. The fact is that the cell phone emits 1000 times higher than the base stations, and it has greater likelihood of causing problems to brain and upper part of human body. The epidemiological evidence suggests that there is an association between radio frequency emitted by wireless phones and head cancer. The radio frequency is classified by International Agency for Research on cancer as possibly carcinogens to humans. According to (Burrell 23-34 ) “A Swedish study on the use of wireless phones, including cell phones and cordless phones, has uncovered a link between electromagnetic radiation exposures and the risk of malignant and non-malignant brain tumors”. The studies reveal that the people who used cell phones for more than a year is at 70% risk of cancer and those who used cell phone for more than 1640 or more has 180% risk. The risk of cancer is greater in the part of the brain where cell phone was exposed. Many scientists have claimed that the wave of mobile communications made popular in the last two decades will result in long-term health implications worldwide. An unprecedented level of radiation frequency resulting in tumor growth inside the human brain may be inevitable. Some scholarly journal used for analyzing this issue is Journal Hindawi by John West and scientific website called American Cancer Society. Both these sources have been highly scientific and profession and helped me lot in understanding this subject. In a website called US News, by author Rachel Berl also helped me in understanding the harmful effect of cell phone on human body resulting in cancer. These source all support that cancer can be caused by cell phone use as it emits radiation. One of the public sources which I have used to study this subject was “Environmental Health” where Nathaniel Mead writes about the irrelevance of cell phone use and cancer. “Underground health” is another website explored where April McCarthy writes about cancer and how it is not related to cell phone use. The medical world has explained that many people have the tendency to keep the cell phone in their pockets and this can cause high radiation on the body part near to cell phone. If a person has the habit of keeping the phone normally in his shirt pocket then it can emit radio frequency to upper body.. According to (West,1-5) “A 21-year-old female presented with left spontaneous bloody nipple discharge. Her history was notable for keeping her cellular phone tucked into her bra on the left side for several hours each day. Her mammogram showed extensive pleomorphic calcifications and densities from the retroareolar region to the chest wall spanning a length of 12 cm”.The opinion generally found among other indicates that the cancer quotient on human body depends on the amount of radiation and the type of cell phone used by a person. The amount of time spent by the user on the phone and distance kept from the body all can affect the risk of cancer. There is indication that radiation frequency send by cell phone can create tumor but it is not yet proved by any science that cell phone in reality did cause tumor or cancer. Also the American Cancer society point out that cancer can come from cell phone use. Because of this, many scientists believe that cell phones arent able to cause cancer. Most studies done in the lab have claimed that this theory as correct that RF waves do not cause DNA damage (ACS) . There is some evidence that it can create some effect on the brain but the intensity of the harm is not clear. It is understood that the oxidation in the saliva of the cell phone user may indicate the harm caused by cell phones. According to (Berl)“The experiment, led by Yaniv Hamzany, an ear, nose and throat specialist with Tel Aviv Universitys Sackler Faculty of Medicine, compared the saliva of 20 heavy cell phone users with the saliva of 20 individuals, most of whom are deaf and either dont use a cell phone or use it for non-verbal functions like texting. The results: The heavy cell phone users showed more signs of oxidative stress”. The cell phone and cancer is not much supported but there is much valuable explanation that it can cause cancer. The other harms caused by cell phone use are explained by many sources however cancer development has not been conclusive. The cell phone is show to have created stress, brain dysfunction and other problems like headache or stress. And stress can be risky and may cause cancer; the cell phone is a threat to health. Hence there is not strong evidence of cell phone causing cancer among people there is no assertive claim against cell phone use. The cell phone does emit electromagnetic radiation and that is validated by both scientific journal and general people. The cell phone and cancer is a subject studied from a professional and technical perspective by the scholarly article. The scholarly journals are compiled by the medical experts, doctors, scientist and their expression is quite strong and cautious. The scholarly articles are consistently claiming the possibility of cancer with the persistent use of cell phone. Hence radiation being carcinogenic the cell phone use seen as a threat to people’s health. The cell phone is not finding any cancer case because it can happen with a longer duration. The explanation could be that the use of cell phone has only risen in a decade or so and people from all age groups are using cell phone. The medical experts and scientist foresaw events and their explanations have a warning note. In one of the journal named “ Environmental Health” Mead writes suggesting people to avoid cell phone for long duration as radiation can definitely cause carcinogenic effect in people. It is found that cell phone has connection with gliomas [malignant brain tumors] and acoustic neuromas [benign tumors of the brain’s auditory nerve] and will show up after only ten years,” states lead author Lennart Hardell, an oncologist and cancer epidemiologist at University Hospital in Örebro, Sweden” ( Mead 422-25). So it is evident that the scholarly articles is claiming that cancer can take some time to develop and current evaluation may not show cancer in cell phone users. The public source on this subject has a passive explanation to give. The public does understand that the cell phone use brings harm to body but how far it can result in cancer is still ambiguous to them. Since no cases of cancer have profoundly emerged the public sources have skepticism about the matter. However there is some sources talking about breast cancer among women and this is because they keep their cell phone under bra. So there is some segment which has confirmed about the cell phones connection with cancer. One of the reasons for such passive perception among public is due to the fact that they are not as professional and scientific as the scholars of this field. In a website called “Underground Health” Mc Carthy reveal that the cell phone has no links to cancer. So the public is updating itself with the new findings and could not accept scholarly articles because the science has not given incidents of cancer due to cell phone use. According to (McCarthy)“A brand new study published in the prestigious Epidemiology journal shows that mobile phone usage still cannot be linked to gliomas, a broad range of cancerous tumors type that form in the brain or spinal cord”. The public sources are sometime satirical about the claims of scholars and there are seen of mistrust and vagueness on science on this matter. While scholarly article affirm the cancer on cell phone use over a period of time, the public media source are relatively lighter on this note. This issue if looked from a theoretical perspective can understand the influence of cell phone in people life and how it endangers their health. The theory of technology determinism is an approach which suggests how technology influences evolution of human world. Some decades ago, we did not have cell phone but now everyone possess them. We can see that people even keep it for prestige issue. Some may not need cell phone but possess it to show it the people around. The cell phone has become so popular that it has become a symbol of social life. People communicate more often on cell phone rather than face to face. In such circumstance, people are devaluating the possible health risks there are confronting with the over use of cell phone. According to ( McGuigan 45-57) “The mobile phone is not reducible only to a material object, a commodity circulating in the global economy of transnational operations, of course; it is also a means of communication with considerable social and cultural significance”. The people are blinded by the technological facility and are overly indulging in such activities which can harm them. People are not ready to accept the scientific claims of medical experts and wants evidence of disease such as cancer. So the technology is absorbed so much in their life that they cannot foresee their troubled future. So technology determinism is a factor that can be explained as theory which supports public neglecting scientific claims of cell phone use and cancer. Cell phone is an integral part of everyday life and people cannot be diverted from using cell phone. Cell phone can cause cancer and also other illnesses. However people cannot be convinced on this issue as they have not confronted with any cancer case due to the use of cell phone. Today people need to see things to believe it and assumptions and theories do not convince them. Cell phone does emit radiation frequency and people do admit it. However they do not understand that this radiation can be serious enough to harm them. There are many scholarly report on cell phone use and cancer occurrence in future, However many public sources are not fully accepting these claims. People want more intricate details to support the cell phone use and cancer occurrence. The comfort of cell phone is significant and people need not back out from using it because of assumptions and probability. The fact is that people need to day some strong evidence to back up the correlation of cell phone with cancer. The scientific claims are not intense and profound that people seriously think about this matter. “The cell phones are equated to things we know to be dangerous, despite the fact that theres no strong science backing up the cell phone cancer claims (American physical Society) .It is definite that cell phone cause radiation and hence it is used for longer time in future cancer is good probability. The scientific claims are a warning to humanity and people need to think with common sense rather than being ignorant. Little precaution is necessarily good because no technology is completely safe on human health especially a device which emits radiation frequency consistently. Prevention is always better than cure. References American Physical Society, . "Guess who got the cance issue wrong." http://physicsbuzz.physics ce ntral.com. APS, 2011. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. . ACS, . "Cellular Phones." http://www.cancer.org. American Cancer Society, 2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. Berl, Rachale P. "Cellphone Use and Cancer: New Study Suggests a Link." http://health.usne ws.com. US News, 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. . Burrell, Lloyd. "300% Increased brain cancer risk for long-term users of cell phones and cordless phones, new study reveals." Natural News 12.3 (2013): 23-34. Print. McGuigan, Jim. "TOWARDS A SOCIOLOGY OF THE MOBILE PHONE." An Interdisciplinary Journal on Humans in ICT Environments 1.1 (2005): 45-57. Print. McCarthy, April. "Cell Phone Use In Children and Teens Translates Into 5 Times Greater Increase In Brain Cancer." http://www.undergroundhealth.com. Healthy Life, 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. . Mead, Nathaniel. "Cancer: Strong Signal for Cell Phone Effects." Environment Health Perspect116.10 (2008): 422-25. Print NCI, . "Cell Phones and Cancer Risk." http://www.cancer.gov. National Cancer Institute, 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. . West, John. "Multifocal Breast Cancer in Young Women with Prolonged Contact between Their Breasts and Their Cellular Phones." Hindawi 13.4 (2013): 1-5. Print. Read More