Cell phone - Research Paper Example

Doctors are skeptical about the health effects of increased exposure of the ears, brain and head to the electromagnetic radiation. Their curiosity has instigated a series of researches that tend to investigate the effect of use of cell phone on the human body. A lot of researches have realized changes in the brain activity as a result of use of cell phone, though many researchers are of the view that more research needs to go into determining the potential ways in which these changes are detrimental for human mind and body.

Along with the increase in cell phone use, the incidences of cancer have also exploded all over the world. This may be a consequence of the microwave radiation that is employed for communicating through cell phones. “Studies that claim a relationship between cell phones and diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s should not be brushed aside as ‘inconclusive’” (“Disadvantages of Cell Phones”). Cell phone affects the brain activity by giving a boost to the brain glucose metabolism in particular regions, though if or not it is something serious is still debatable.

Talking to WebMD, the director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse, Nora Volkow said, “[w]e don’t know that this is harmful [but we know that] glucose metabolism is a direct indicator of brain activity” (Volkow cited in Doheny 1). The sugar is consumed by cells in the brain for energy. This conclusion was drawn after a comprehensive research by Nora Volkow and her colleagues. They involved 47 healthy volunteers in that research and performed PET scans of their brains after placing the cell phones on their left and right ears.

The glucose metabolism in the brain was measured twice. While studying the effect of cell phone on the brain on the positron emission tomography (PST) scans, Volkow found a 7 per cent increase in the metabolism of glucose in the region of brain that was nearest to the antenna in people that held the cell phone on either side of the brain for 50 minutes. As a result of this research, Volkow concluded that cell phones generate electromagnetic radiation to which, the human brain is sensitive. The professor of neurosurgery, Keith Black is specifically concerned about the negative effects of the use of cell phones upon children’s brains because of the fact that the body defense in children is not as strong as it is in the adults.

“Their skulls are thinner.… Children are getting a lot more energy from cell phones delivered to their brains than adults” (Black cited in Doheny 2). Researchers studying the effects of cell phone use on human body have already determined negative effect of the cell phone radiation on the animal body. Swedish researchers who conducted the research upon rats found a relationship between Alzheimer’s disease and the use of cell phone (“Disadvantages of Cell Phones”). In their research, rats were exposed to the cell phone radiation just for two hours.

After fifty days of the experiment, when the rats’ brains were examined, the researchers found a lot of dead cells. From their research, they concluded that cell phones cause considerable harm to the brain cells and instigate Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers particularly found damage to the brain regions that play a fundamental role in memorization, movement, and learning. Results of this study are of huge significance due to the fact that state of development of the brain of a rat resembles that of the brain of a