CELL PHONES, WIFI AND GENETIC DAMAGE

Airline passengers who sneak in cell phone calls, play with gaming devices or listen to their mp3 players during takeoff or landing probably won’t cause a plane crash, but they may risk a confrontation with flight attendants.

Researchers and aircraft companies have found almost no direct evidence of cell phones or other electronic devices interfering with aircraft systems.  The ban on wireless devices has a lot more to do with possible interference for ground networks, rather than any danger posed to aircraft systems.   

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned in-flight use of most cell phones and wireless devices in 1991, citing the reason of ground network interference. Some airlines allow passengers to use cell phones in ‘airplane mode’, which shuts off phone transmissions.

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:
   
While, in theory, using a cell phone or other wireless device could interfere with the functions of an airliner, it’s not likely. Communication systems onboard planes have been shielded from electromagnetic interference since the 1960s.

The real reason why you can’t use your cell phone on a plane has much more to do with their impact on cell phone towers. If you’re flying at 35,000 feet your cell phone’s signals could reach hundreds of towers at once, and cell phone companies are not set up to handle this type of roaming agreement.

That said, if you’re a frequent flyer you should be counting your lucky stars that cell phone use is currently prohibited on flights.

A Flying Microwave Oven 

An airplane is essentially a metal cylinder and is nearly an ideal structure to bounce around dangerous EMF radiation from any device that emits those signals inside the plane. Microwave exposure from cell phones and even Wi-Fi inside a plane is magnified by reflections from the metal body of the aircraft.     

Airliners are worse than cars in this sense because there’s much less glass area relative to reflective metal. When you use a cordless phone or cell phone while standing near a metal door or refrigerator you also increase your exposure because of this reflective effect.

This holds true not only for planes and cars, but also buses, trains, elevators and any other moving vehicles, with the worst being perhaps a windowless van. Cell phones, like all wireless communication devices, use radio (high frequency microwave) waves to transmit digital data, and the dangers of exposure were known as early as the 1950s in military applications. The hazards of radar, used in WWII, have been widely known in professional circles since the 1960s. Yet few have been willing to focus on the evidence, and the cellular industry has followed in the footsteps of the tobacco industry, vehemently denying any risks.

It’s worth remembering that the telecommunication industry is even BIGGER than Big Pharma, and they have far more influence than the drug companies. My belief is that this exponential increase in this type of radiation exposure is far more serious a threat than tobacco ever was.

A study found: 1) nearly 300 percent increase in the incidence of genetic damage when human blood cells were exposed to radiation in the cellular frequency band; 2) significant increase in cell phone users’ risk of brain tumors at the brain’s outer edge, on whichever side the cell phone was held most often ; 3) a 60 percent greater chance of acoustic neuromas, a tumor affecting the nerve that controls hearing among people who had used cell phones for six years or more; and 4) higher rate of brain cancer deaths among handheld mobile phone users than among car phone users (car phones are mounted on the dashboard rather than held next to your head and the antenna was typically outside of the car).    

In addition to the widespread concern about brain cancer, scientists have found that digital radio waves transmitted by cell phones and other wireless devices can: Harm your blood cells and cause cellular changes; Damage your DNA; Possibly accelerate and contribute to onset of autism, and there are theories that it may be a trigger for Alzheimer’s disease because of the cellular decalcification effect; Damage your eyes; Cause sleep disruptions, fatigue and headaches; and change the exchange of nutrients and toxins across the cell membrane.

In all cases the young are much more vulnerable to these risks than adults because of their thinner skulls, smaller heads, and still-developing brains and nervous systems. Their thinner skull bones allow for greater penetration of radiation. The radiation can enter all the way into the midbrain, where tumors are more deadly.     

In addition, children’s cells reproduce more quickly, so they’re more susceptible to aggressive cell growth. Their immune systems are also not as well developed as adults. Lastly, children face a far greater lifetime exposure. Not only should children not use cell phones, but adults should not use them (or Wi-Fi) around children - especially in light of the fact that brain cancer has now overtaken leukemia as the number one cancer killer of children.

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