Do cell phones cause brain tumours? And what would happen if you took your mobile phone into an elevator?

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:38 How mobile phones work
01:51 Is microwave radiation harmful? - how microwaves affect our body
02:51 Do mobile phones cause brain tumors?
05:00 Impact of elevators on mobile phone radiation

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Summary:

In order to transmit information wirelessly, cell phones rely on the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

There are 2 ways to study the health effects of microwaves: experiments in the lab and experiments in humans. A key step in the development of cancer is damage to our DNA. From a pure physics perspective, microwaves are too weak to break the bonds between DNA molecules. So it is very unlikely that microwaves could trigger the development of cancer.

When it comes to experiments in humans, it would be unethical to expose people to large amounts of microwave radiation. So we cannot answer this question directly. Instead scientists have used indirect methods to study the effect of mobile phones on our health. One type of indirect study is called a case-control study. These studies are difficult to interpret because they rely on people's memories of what they have done years ago. Still, case control studies have not shown a consistent relationship between mobile phones and brain tumors.

Another type of study looks at the population from a birds eye view. We know that there has been massive adoption of mobile phones over the last 20 years. If mobile phones do cause cancer, then we should see a dramatic increase in the number of people being diagnosed with brain tumors. Studies have shows that even with a follow up period of 15 years, there hasn't been a significant increase in brain tumor rates.

A key safety mechanism that helps protect us is that there are strict international limits on the amount of microwaves that a mobile phone is allowed to emit. In normal use mobile phones only emit about 35% of this limit. But in an elevator, the amount of radiation can increase substantially.

In an elevator, the signal from a mobile phone is block by the metal construction of the elevator, the thick concrete that makes up the elevator shaft, and all the concrete and steel ros in the main building. To compensate for this, a mobile phone increases the power of the microwaves in a desperate attempt to maintain a connection to the base station. Also, the elevator is a big metal box. So there microwaves can be reflected off the walls and become trapped.

Computer simulations of this kind of situation shows that the maximum amount of radiation emitted by a mobile phone could exceed the safety limit by 3.8%. This is not enough radiation to fry your brain, but it is stil more radiation than you need to be exposed to.

So overall, it is a good idea not to use your cell phone in an elevator.

#cellphones #microwaves #docunlock

Full transcript and references: https://www.docunlock.org/youtube/do-...

All DocUnlock content is for educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis and treatment. Please read our Disclaimer: https://www.docunlock.org/medical-inf...

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Further reading

American Cancer Society Fact Page on Cell Phones: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-...
ARPANSA on Mobile Phones and Health: https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understand...
Better Health Channel on how mobile phones work: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/h...

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