14 DAY TRIAL // We are obsessed with the wireless technology. We would like to stay in bed 24/24, 7/7, just to lazily push some buttons and all the information and needs to be provided to us. But a new National Research Council report, carried out at the University of Colorado at Boulder, warns that more research is required to assess the health effects of exposure to radio frequencies employed by the wireless devices, like cell phones, laptops and hand-held Web-surfing gadgets.
"Obviously we are not seeing immediate short-term effects of such exposure, like people dropping dead on their cell phones. But in the long term - 10, 20 and 30 years out - we have a lot less information about potential effects from these types of wireless devices", said lead author Frank Barnes, a distinguished professor in the electrical and computer engineering department.
The NRC committee led by Barnes had a three-day conference in August 2007, in Washington D.C., coming with a wide array of researches on the topic and the presentations of over a dozen researchers from 9 countries.
"The committee recommended that future studies pay special attention to the effects of RF energy on children, adolescents, pregnant women and fetuses from exposure to hand-held devices as well as base-station antennas that transmit such signals", said Barnes.
"Although it is not known whether children are more susceptible, they could conceivably be at greater risk because of their developing tissue and organ systems", the report said.
The report signals the importance of new researches on the changing designs of the antennas employed for hand-held wireless communication devices.
"While studies targeting RF energy radiation on the human head from cell phone antennas held against the ear have been conducted, some newer cell phones and Web-surfing devices have antennas in proximity to other body regions like the waist, requiring more study. A number of studies also have shown a steep increase in mobile phone use by children, ensuring that younger generations will experience much longer periods of RF exposure. The fact that some cancers have a 10-to-20-year latency period make these broad, long-term studies potentially important", said Barnes.
"The health effects of RF on the human body is a very controversial topic. There are a whole lot of studies that do not show any health effects from RF, and a few studies that do show some effects. While some studies show 'perturbed growth effects' in cells as a result of these frequencies, other studies have shown therapies using electromagnetic frequencies can facilitate bone healing", he added.