Warning: Cellphone radiation ‘cooks’ your child’s brain
Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa) warns of the extreme dangers of giving children cellphones and other wireless devices.
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Cansa’s head of health, Professor Michael Herbst was quoted as saying, “Their skull and brain are still developing and the radiation from cellphones ‘cooks’ their brain.”
According to a report compiled by YOU Magazine, children have a thinner skull which absorbs more radiation than that of an adult.
Dr Devra Davis, president of the Environmental Health Trust, a group of epidemiologists from around the world was quoted, “Traders are doing everything in their power to make phones cheaper, and parents are falling over themselves to buy them.
“The new phones are measured by old standards for models, and old assumptions of how they should be used.”
Studies in Europe found the bone marrow of children absorbs 10 times more radiation than an adult’s, while the brain itself absorbs twice as much.
“Cansa supports these warnings [from the health trust]”, Professor Herbst says.
“The South African public is now involved with technology but appears not to know about the inherent dangers.”
For instance, iPads contain antennae that give off radiation and should not be held directly against the body, but kids’ arms aren’t long enough to hold them at the correct distance. Babies play with cellphones and mothers talk on the devices while breastfeeding.
Because a possible illness manifests itself only a considerable time after exposure, the dangers aren’t taken seriously, say both Professor Herbst and Dr Davis.
“We can definitely expect to see an increase in the occurrence of brain disorders in future,” Professor Herbst says.
Source: Times LIVE via YOU Magazine