I've never been a fan of holding an active transmitter (cell phone) against the side of my head, preferring to use either speakerphone or a corded headset of some type. But I wonder: how much danger does a Bluetooth wireless headset present compared to the phone itself?
Mobile phone cancer warning as malignant brain tumours double
61–70 of 185 posts
Re: Mobile phone cancer warning as malignant brain tumours double
#62"They analysed 79,241 malignant brain tumours over 21 years, finding that cases of GBM in England have increased from around 1,250 a year in 1995 to just under 3,000." ~2000 new cases per year in a country with 53 million people? I'll take my chances. I'm fascinated how people obsess over the unproven and ultimately minuscule health risks associated with using a cell phone or drinking a glass of wine or eating chocol…
Agree that bigger issues for health-conscious people should be smoking & overeating, and not exercising. Why not look at other health risks like cell phone or drinking a glass of wine or eating chocolate or whatever, once the bigger ones are taken care of?
Re: Mobile phone cancer warning as malignant brain tumours double
#63Brain tumors take several years to even decades to develop and become apparent. This rise in tumors detected now could have been caused in the days of analog phones with radios that had vastly higher power output. Or, for that matter, analog cordless phones.
It doesn't make sense to me that we would find a detectable rise on that basis, because in the days of analog phones with high powered radios, it was a very small proportion of the population using them. Here is a picture of a DynaTAC analog cell phone circa 1983: https://s.hswstatic.com/gif/cell-phone-old.jpg I certainly knew what they looked like, before I had my first cell phone, because stockbrokers or lawyers or…
I had a Moto MicroTAC. I think I still have it somewhere.
Re: Mobile phone cancer warning as malignant brain tumours double
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Outliers, not in any way related to the general trend and a bad argument in general. Numbers please.
The burden of proof rests on the person making the claim (the person claiming that some smokers/drinkers live to 100) rather than the person challenging it.
Both are claims.
One is just implicit.
Some of the longest living people in the world (e.g. in the island of Icaria) drink and smoke like it's 1977 and they have always been.
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where...
Perhaps less stress and better lifestyle (quality of life) is the key to fewer cancers and such, as opposed to cutting smoking and drinking -- even with the increased burden on the lungs and such.
Re: Mobile phone cancer warning as malignant brain tumours double
#65Pretty sure this is complete B.S considering the view of talking on the phone millenials and younger have. Like, there are literal memes about one being horrified and the sound of a phone ringing, which to me seems like a good indicator that we're talking less on the phone, so why would brain tumors increase?
Re: Mobile phone cancer warning as malignant brain tumours double
#66"They analysed 79,241 malignant brain tumours over 21 years, finding that cases of GBM in England have increased from around 1,250 a year in 1995 to just under 3,000." ~2000 new cases per year in a country with 53 million people? I'll take my chances. I'm fascinated how people obsess over the unproven and ultimately minuscule health risks associated with using a cell phone or drinking a glass of wine or eating chocol…
Agree that bigger issues for health-conscious people should be smoking & overeating, and not exercising. Why not look at other health risks like cell phone or drinking a glass of wine or eating chocolate or whatever, once the bigger ones are taken care of?
1. Because those still haven't been taken care of
2. Because these sensationalized risks are the ones that get coverage more than the true risks
Re: Mobile phone cancer warning as malignant brain tumours double
#67"They analysed 79,241 malignant brain tumours over 21 years, finding that cases of GBM in England have increased from around 1,250 a year in 1995 to just under 3,000." ~2000 new cases per year in a country with 53 million people? I'll take my chances. I'm fascinated how people obsess over the unproven and ultimately minuscule health risks associated with using a cell phone or drinking a glass of wine or eating chocol…
You also expect the number of identified cases to increase as we improve detection methods and find tumors earlier.
Re: Mobile phone cancer warning as malignant brain tumours double
#68This finding (fully believing it is at best anecdotal and preliminary at this point) brought TTF "tumor treating fields" therapy to mind.
In the last year or so a medical device was approved by the FDA to treat brain tumors (Optune, Novocure Inc) in which the patient uses helmet that introduces alternating electrical field though the area of the tumor ( ie the patient head). It sounds super crazy, but it seems to have reached statistical significance in a couple large brain cancer studies. There are some caveats about selection bias of patients in these studies ( e.g, patients that enrolled/stayed in the study were motivated/strong enough to carry the heavy backpack and wear an onerous helmet) but it is being used and has some scientists and clinicians scratching their heads. Novocure is expanding application to multiple other cancers.
Re: Mobile phone cancer warning as malignant brain tumours double
#69Is it possible to get cancer in your hand or thigh? I'm sure phones are held in hands or pockets for longer durations than they're held up to heads.
You only get cancer in tissues with active cell division, such as the skin or epithelial tissue. For the hand that's the skin. Most cells in the body don't divide after your initial growth phase (all the way to adulthood). You are "produced" once and from then on there only is "maintenance", which includes growth of new cells only in tissues that absolutely require it throughout lifetime. Evolution turned it off in a…
While cancer rates are often higher in cell types with higher division rates, there are many other risk factors. The increased incidence of skin cancer is due largely to exposure to mutagenic ionising radiation from the sun, which is absorbed readily by the skin. Microwave radiation is more deeply penetrating. Although I believe it is unlikely to cause cancer.
Re: Mobile phone cancer warning as malignant brain tumours double
#70I've never been a fan of holding an active transmitter (cell phone) against the side of my head, preferring to use either speakerphone or a corded headset of some type. But I wonder: how much danger does a Bluetooth wireless headset present compared to the phone itself?
i remember when bluetooth ear pieces first came out they had warnings on them about extended use may cause drying out of the eyeball.
I distinctly remember it on a Ericsson ear piece (single ear fold out).
I've noticed that these devices dont have that warning anymore...