Are Cellphones Safe??

Communication in India has become a primary necessity and hence many telecom companies have tasted the tremendous success. In India cellphone users have been increased to approximately 800 million now as compared to 50 million in 2005 and the numbers are still growing. The mobile phones radiation is not considered to be so harmful, but still our attention is needed on harmful effects of these radiations because the numbers of cellphone users are increasing and so the radiations, not only in India but globally. In India according to the market experts figure of cellphone users will reach to 100 percent by 2012.

Several researches have been made in last few years and the research is still going, if we look back at the beginning of these researches was started during the world war when the birds found not only died but were in a roasted, ready-to-eat condition, due to the harmful radiation yielded by the antenna towers of the warships. This stopped when the radar power was made off. Also, scientists found that birds failing to navigate their direction when they approached the antenna and started flying in zig-zag directions, thereafter the research on harmful effects of Electromagnetic Radiations was started.

If we believe the scientists researching on harmful effects of radiation, there exist an electromagnetic wave pollution called as electro-smog. These radiations are capable of increasing brain tumors and can cause severe cancers too.

We in India do not follow many of the guidelines that should be followed like in US there should be no residential building within 50m radius of the cellphone tower, but here in India we let the Telecom companies to place their towers over the top of our buildings because of lack of awareness of its harmful effects and also because of huge amount paid by the companies.

So far government hasn’t made any strong and adequate law for these Telecom companies, therefore, all we can do is take precautions. Here we have listed some of the precautions that we can follow:

Ø     Avoid unwanted calls, if not then minimise the time you speak, preferably use the mobile phone only for a very short duration.

Ø     Avoid calling when the signal is weak, because then the mobile radiates maximally, in such condition we can…

• Use our headsets, if incase not available then,

• Use cellphone’s loudspeaker.

Ø     More precaution should be taken care of in case of growing children since they are still growing and mobile radiations are more damaging for them.

Ø     Avoid putting the cellphone in left pocket, since it is closer to heart.

Ø     Avoid carrying cellphone clipped to your belt, as it has been found to affect fertility.

Ø     Switch between the left and right side of your head while using the cellphone without headsets.

Ø     Keep the cellphone away from pillow while sleeping.

Ø     Use your landline, particularly when you work demands a lot of communication.