As most of you know, I have worked in the RF (radio frequency) industry, now better known as the wireless industry, throughout my life. My work has always involved both RF receivers and transmitters, and RF transmitters come with health risks unless precautions are taken. With the unprecedented increase in cordless phone usage, especially in homes where prolonged exposure can be inevitable, I feel compelled to make you aware of the dangers of RF when its use becomes substantial or the dangers go unheeded. The recent (August 25, 2009) release of the report, “Cellphones and Brain Tumors – 15 Reasons for Concern” touches on what may actually be a bigger problem: the cordless phone (and possibly the baby monitor or intercom) you probably use at home. All of these contain RF transmitters, thus come with health risks.
Lenhart Hardell (Department of Oncology, Örebro University Hospital, SE-701 85 Örebro, Sweden) has probably done the most complete job of determining the effects of exposure to cell phones and cordless phones. His latest report (accepted April 13, 2009 for publication in the International Journal of Oncology – available for download below) involving 905 cases with malignant brain tumors, 1,254 cases with benign tumors and 2,162 population-based controls provides irrefutable evidence solidly linking cordless phone usage to brain tumors.
Note that newer cordless phones may use DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) Technology. DECT may add yet more influences to the mix; here is an excerpt from “Medical warnings needed on DECT cordless phone use”, J. Aust. Coll. Nutr. & Env. Med. Vol. 25 No. 2 August 2006 (accepted for publication), Don Maisch, EMFacts Consultancy:
“Concerns within the German medical community led to the Freiburger Appeal in October 2002, signed by over 130 medical practitioners from the German environmental medicine medical organisation, Interdisziplinäre Gesellschaft für Umweltmedizin e. V. (IGUMED). The appeal was to express their concern over their medical observations of adverse health impacts from the use of both cell phones and DECT cordless phones. Symptoms were attributed to exposure to pulsed microwave radiation from cell phone and DECT technology. The following is an extract:
We have observed, in recent years, a dramatic rise in severe and chronic diseases among our patients, especially:
- Learning, concentration, and behavioural disorders (e.g. attention deficit disorder, ADD)
- Extreme fluctuations in blood pressure, ever harder to influence with medications
- Heart rhythm disorders
- Heart attacks and strokes among an increasingly younger population
- Brain-degenerative diseases (e.g. Alzheimers) and epilepsy
- Cancerous afflictions: leukemia, brain tumors
Moreover, we have observed an ever-increasing occurrence of various disorders, often misdiagnosed in patients as psychosomatic:
- Headaches, migraines
- Chronic exhaustion
- Inner agitation
- Sleeplessness, daytime sleepiness
- Tinnitus
- Susceptibility to infection
- Nervous and connective tissue pains, for which the usual causes do not explain even the most conspicuous symptoms
Since the living environment and lifestyles of our patients are familiar to us, we can see especially after carefully-directed inquiry a clear temporal and spatial correlation between the appearance of disease and exposure to pulsed high -frequency microwave radiation (HFMR), such as:
- Installation of a mobile telephone sending station in the near vicinity
- Intensive mobile telephone use
- Installation of a digital cordless (DECT) telephone at home or in the neighbourhood”.
If you use a cordless phone regularly and substantially, it is imperative that you
- move the base station out of any sleeping area
- consider using the cordless phone only for short calls and emergencies
- install wired telephones and make them your “normal use” phones or buy headsets for all cordless phones so that the transmitter is kept at a distance from your body.
Click here to download the full report: “Mobile phones, cordless phones and the risk for brain tumours“, as published in the International Journal of Oncology [PDF, 128KB]
Click here to download the full report: “Medical warnings needed on DECT cordless phone use” [PDF, 26KB]
The correlation between cordless phone usage and health problems as noted above is factual. In the case of brain tumors, there may be no indication for 5, 10, or more years, so you may be tempted to think you are not affected. The evidence strongly suggests YOU WILL BE AFFECTED, so please take appropriate action now to preserve your health.
If you use a cell phone, you should read the related article, Brain Tumors Solidly Linked to Cellphone Usage