Use a headset to avoid ill effects of cell phone use, doctor says

by Donna M. Webb
Grand Island Dispatch, March 17, 2006

Using headsets can help avoid ill effects of cell phone usage, according to Dr. George Carlo. He is an epidemiologist who has researched and written a book on the health effects of cell phones. A report on his recent talk to the Grand Island Rotary Club was published in the March 10 Island Dispatch.

Carlo had told Rotarians that, based on his research, if someone uses a cell phone between 500 and 1,000 minutes per month, they are at a greatly increased risk of brain and eye cancer.

“It is irresponsible to say that cell phones are safe,” Carlo said, based on the results from his study, which was funded by a $28.5 million grant from the telecommunications industry

To avoid ill effects, Carlo stressed, “The most important thing for anyone to do is use a headset.” Also, he advised keeping the phone more than 7 inches away from your body, so that the “near-plume radiation” cannot penetrate body tissues. Carlo defines “near-plume radiation” as that emitted in up to a 7-inch diameter area around a cell phone. He said that kind of radiation adversely affects the functionality of cells in the blood/brain barrier and also interferes with the normal repair process for broken segments of DNA.

Carlo said litigation is pending against cell phone companies and manufacturers. “Between 2001 and 2003, there were seven class-action lawsuits brought against the cell phone industry,” Carlo said. “In October 2005, one of these made it up to the Supreme Court.” The ruling was that all of the pending cases should go forward. Carlo said, “Right now, 15 lawsuits are going forward.”

For more information on Carlo’s research into the risks of cell phone, you may want to read his book, “Cell Phones: Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age: An Insider’s Alarming Discoveries About Cancer and Genetic Damage.”