The Stanford Inn by the Sea - Eco-Lodge & Retreat Center

A University of Washington study documented the effect on DNA in the brains of rats exposed for two hours to the Federal Communications Commission highest permissible level for cell phone radiation. Although the meaning of the DNA damage is not understood, researchers believe that point source heat can damage DNA and cell phones create point source heat. To avoid this heat, users should use headsets and hands-free devices. However, most of us tend to carry our phone in a pocket or purse and pull it out when it rings or vibrates and take the call.

We talk. A short call is probably not problematic. But all calls are not necessarily short. And many of us don't use a headset.

Radiation is measured in terms of specific absorption rate (SAR) - with 1.6 Watts per kilogram the maximum allowable by the Federal Communications Commission. You can find the SAR rating of your particular phone by visiting CNET's review site http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6602_7-5020355-1.html?tag=lnav

Now that cellphones are used not only for telephone calls but also emails, web browsing, music, etc. they tend to run with higher power - SAR levels. For example, the very popular Blackberry Curve operates at 1.54 watts per kilogram, the IPhone at .97, while the new Razr2 V-9 has a SAR rating of .52.

Our son used a Blackberry in his work and also as his primary phone. We gave him a Razr2 V9 as his voice phone, reducing the exposure to his head by two thirds, while arranging a second number with data services for the Blackberry.

By the way, the radiation form cellphones is associated with acoustic neuroma a non-malignant tumor wrapped around the auditory nerve.

If you use a Blackberry, IPhone or other phone with a high SAR rating, go to your provider and get a new lower rated handset to use as a phone and use the high powered device for email and web browsing.

In 2005, Molly Wood, a senior editor at cnet.com, issued a column The cell phone industry: Big Tobacco 2.0?, in which she wondered if the popular and addictive cell phone is not unlike cigarettes. The cell industry then and now actively argues that scientific evidence does not demonstrate a relationship between cell phone use and disease, specifically cancer (http://www.cnet.com/4520-6033_1-5741203-1.html).

This year, Dr. Siegal Sadetzki an epidemiologist and physician at Tel Aviv University, published Cellular Phone Use and Risk of Benign and Malignant Parotid Gland Tumors--A Nationwide Case-Control Study, (American Journal of Epidemiology., 15 February 2008; 167: 457 - 467; http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/167/4/457.) The study demonstrates that cell phone users had a 50% greater risk of parotid cancer than those who did not use cell phones. This limited and controlled study is provocative and frankly, troublesome.

Five years ago, I was locked in a battle over the installation of cell antennas at the Stanford Inn. A small contingent of residents truly believed that cell antennas produced dangerous radiation. Before we had agreed to have antennas installed here, we read just about every major study (or abstract of such a study) regarding the dangers of radiation. We learned that base stations were relatively safe due to restricted access to the antennas, while the antennas in handsets were definitely problematic. Five year later, Dr. Sadetzki's study is particularly important: the antennas in our cell phones are not just problematic but dangerous, especially with heavy use. In addition since the phones continually connect with local cells, the phone in your pocket is dangerous as well.

You can find additional information regarding this study in Heavy Cell Phone Use Linked To Cancer, Study Suggests at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080214144349.htm

There are other studies, less well constructed that suggest that gliomas can be caused by cell phone or remote phone use. (Reported by Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS48429+23-May-2008+BW20080523.)

We are very concerned about cell phone use and believe that there's enough evidence that handsets are potentially dangerous to use Bluetooth, wired earphones and the speaker phone to help prevent long term damage from the use of the technology. Incredibly, if, the information in Reuters, 23 May, 2008, is correct, the use of home remote phones is also dangerous. Even these ubiquitous telephones should be put aside in favor of corded telephone sets.

We work among landlines and have phone extensions throughout the Inn, however, cell phones are the primary phones of both our kids and our guests while they are here. Guests of the Stanford Inn will find land line based phones with voice mail in all our accommodations.

Simply, if you are concerned about your health, cell phones should be used minimally - and when used, only with Bluetooth, wired headsets, or as speaker phones. Don't give up your land line.

This is one of most important entries I have written. I feel badly that I haven't posted this information earlier, but I wanted to do additional research. I have sent emails to people I know with phones which appear to be more hazardous than I ever expected.

For the last 15 years, I have been following research on the effects of non-ionizing radiation produced by cellphones. Our entire family and most of our staff and guests use them. Knowing their hazards makes using them a bit geeky and definitely less convenient, but, importantly, somewhat safer. In any case - let's start with the recommendations from a stellar panel of scientists from the planet's premier universities.

First, this information is from a study released in August, Cellphones and Brain Tumors 15 Reasons for Concern - Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone.
The authors advocate the adopting the precautionary principle"

The precautionary principle applies where scientific evidence is insufficient, inconclusive or uncertain and preliminary scientific evaluation indicates that there are reasonable grounds for concern that the potentially dangerous effects on the environment, human, animal or plant health may be inconsistent with the high level of protection chosen. (European Commission Communication on the Precautionary Principle - 2nd February 2000: In Cellphones and Brain Tumours....)

Finding that published information regarding microwave radiation to be insufficient, uncertain, manipulated and even biased and that a variety of peer reviewed studies demonstrate correlations between the use of cellphones and cancer, the study recommends taking personal responsibility and lists actions you can take. Below is a modified version of their list:

1. Use a wired headset, speaker option, or text. (Bluetooth uses microwaves to communicate with the earpiece.)
2. Keep the cellphone away from your body. Use a holster; keep on the outside of a purse, messenger bag, backpack, etc.
3. Avoid use in a car, train, bus, or plane. Vehicles are metal and microwaves are reflected by metal ricocheting until they dissipate their energy.
4. Avoid use in rural areas moving vehicles or wherever there are less than full bars. The greater the distance from antennas, the greater power the cellphone will generate. Distance equals "more power"
5. Use cellphones as answering machines. Leave off until you can use it to check calls.
6. Use a corded landline whenever possible to return calls.
7. Avoid cordless phones. Recent studies indicate that they also increase the risk of cancer.
8. Avoid use inside buildings, particularly with steel structures
9. Do not allow children to sleep with the phone - under their pillow or on their bedside table
10. Do not allow your children under 18 to use cellphones except in an emergency

For those of you who have stuck with me - the following are details from the above study.

Here are the 15 reasons for concern summarized:

1. Industry's own research showed cellphones caused brain tumors
2. Subsequent industry-funded research also showed that using a cellphone elevated the risk of brain tumors
3. Interphone studies, published to date, consistently show use of a cellphone for less than 10 years protects the user from a brain tumor.
4. Despite the systemic-protective-skewing of all results in Interphone studies, significant risk for brain tumors from cellphone use was still found.
5. Studies independent of industry funding show what would be expected if wireless phones cause brain tumors.
6. The danger of brain tumors from cellphone use is highest in children, and the younger a child is when he/she starts using a cellphone, the higher the risk.
7. There have been numerous governmental warnings about children's use of cellphones.
8. Exposure limits for cellphones are based only on the danger from heating.
9. An overwhelming majority of the European Parliament has voted for a set of changes based on "health concerns associated with electromagnetic fields."
10. Cellphone radiation damages DNA, an undisputed cause of cancer.
11. Cellphone radiation has been shown to cause the blood-brain barrier to leak.
12. Cellphone user manuals warn customers to keep the cellphone away from the body even when the cellphone is not in use.
13. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) warning for cordless phones.
14. For Digitally Enhanced Cordless Technology, the FCC warns, "This equipment should be installed an operated with a minimum distance of 20 centimeters (almost 8 inches) between the radiator and your body." The radiation from these phones is based on GSM cellphone technology.
15. Male fertility is damaged by cellphone radiation.

One of the studies cited by the authors is particularly striking in its indictment of not only cellphones but also cordless phones. Pooled analysis of two case-control studies on use of cellular and cordless telephones and the risk for malignant brain tumours diagnosed in 1997-2003 reports odds ratios with a confidence level of .95 of 3.7 for digital cellular phones and 2.3 for ordinary cordless phones for malignant brain tumors when used for more than 2,000 hours. Worse, odds ratios are higher for younger users. (Odds ratio is a measurement between two groups - those who have used the devices versus those who haven't.) To summarize their findings: Cumulative use of cellular and cordless handsets, particularly on one side of one's head, is correlated with increased risk of malignant tumors including gioblastoma.

This study alone is alarming. And it is only one of many cited by the authors of Cellphones and Brain Tumours...

The bad news just keeps coming: A few years ago when I looked-up information concerning the nature of microwaves' effect on the brain - the only effect was understood to be as a point source of heat. This newest report points out that there are unknown effects other than heating: "...why does medicine use these fields for healing bone fractures that did not previously heal with a cast, and the military use them to discourage the enemy?" (Cellphones and Brain Tumours...)

Cellphone manufacturers are providing more substantive warnings than even five years ago. For example, BlackBerry specifies that users carry the phone in an approved holster or keep the phone approximately 25mm or nearly an inch from the body. The company warns that the popular Curve should not even be carried on the body if not in an approved holster that must have a belt clip.

Carrying solutions, including RIM approved carrying solutions and carrying solutions not approved by RIM, that do not come equipped with an integrated belt clip SHOULD NOT be worn or carried on the body. For more information regarding the wearing or carrying of this BlackBerry device without using a RIM approved carrying solution equipped with an integrated belt clip, see the Holster information in the Additional safety guidelines section of this document. http://docs.blackberry.com/en/smartphone_users/deliverables/5451/SIB_8300_series_169506_11.pdf

The iPhone is 10mm better.

For optimal mobile device performance and to be sure that human exposure to RF energy does not exceed the FCC and European Union guidelines, always follow these instructions and precautions: When on a call using the built-in audio receiver in iPhone, hold iPhone with the 30-pin connector pointed down toward your shoulder to increase separation from the antenna. For body-worn operation, keep iPhone at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) away from the body, and only use carrying cases, belt clips, or holders that do not have metal parts and that maintain at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) separation between iPhone and the body. When using the EDGE data transmission feature of iPhone (see the iPhone User's Guide for more information), position iPhone's antenna at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) from the body."http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iPhone_Product_Info_Guide.pdf

There's more information. But more is not necessary. Just be careful. Use the precautionary principle - be sure to use wired headsets. Don't carry your phone in a pocket and particularly near organs. If you need to use your phone in a vehicle - stop, open the windows. Similarly, use your cellphone outdoors as much as possible or by an open window. A local RF engineer told me when that dual pane glass reflects RF signals, which will cause the phone to power-up. (Interference AND distance = more power!) The cellphone is a wonderful product and a BlackBerry, iPhone and other smart phones are computers usually smaller than a cigarette package - and perhaps far more dangerous. Take care!