Mind Control by Cell Phone

Electromagnetic signals from cell phones can change your brainwaves and behavior. But don't break out the aluminum foil head shield just yet, writes Scientific American.

Could the electrical signals coming from a phone affect certain brainwaves operating in resonance with cell phone transmission frequencies? After all, the caller's cerebral cortex is just centimeters away from radiation broadcast from the phone's antenna.

Two studies provide some revealing news: cell phones alter your behaviour and cause insomnia.

Although this research shows that cell phone transmissions can affect a person's brainwaves with persistent effects on behavior, there is no for concern that cell phones are damaging.

The arousal effects the researchers measured are equivalent to about half a cup of coffee, and many other factors in a person's surroundings will affect a night's sleep as much or more than cell phone transmissions.

Gadgets Can Cause Allergies Too

Allergy suffers have to fear more than pollen this spring, according to Todd Rosengart Chief Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stony Brook University Medical Hospital.

"The gadgets and gizmos that technology fans use on a daily basis like iPods, cell phones and other items can also be sources of allergic reaction. i4U reports.

Cell phones can affect users who are sensitive to metals and minerals used in manufacturing.

Nickel is called one of the leading causes of skin allergies and it is used in cell phone batteries and can lead to contact dermatitis of users.

Cell phones and iPod can cause allergic individuals to develop skin bumps or rashes after prolonged use."

Phone Lets You Monitor Your Vital Statistics

A company, called Confident, markets a cell phone-based system that allows people to monitor and track their vital statistics. Switched by engadget reports.

"Diabetics can check their glucose levels via their phone, which will upload their readings to an online database that doctors could use to monitor the health of their patients. Patients can also track their statistics to learn more about their own bodies and how to stay healthy, and even receive text messages if they forget to test themselves. Those trying to get help losing weight can meanwhile track their progress via their phone and, presumably, get text messages telling them to put down that pastry."

Calorie Count Mobile

About.com Health is launching Calorie Count Mobile, a free service that allows mobile users to receive nutritional data and ratings of more than 70,000 foods. [via Wireless Week]

"The mobile service is an extension of the company’s Website. It includes two parts: a WAP site and SMS. They complement each other, but About.com Calorie Counter directors found that some people are more comfortable using SMS than trying to access a mobile site. Information can be accessed by texting the word “food,” with the name of the food for which you want data, to 432584."

SMS Lice Alerts

This is a new one for health care and SMS. Lice Alerts!

TXTS GV PARNTS PWR 2 FITE HED LICE

"Beat the Bugs’, the UK’s first ever campaign to unite a primary school, its parents and local pharmacy to limit head lice amongst the community, set a national benchmark by pioneering an SMS ‘Outbreak Alert’ system.

The project, supported by leading head lice treatment Hedrin, was designed to raise awareness amongst parents of the need to check regularly to control head lice outbreaks, and was launched as part of a national educational campaign called ‘Once A Week, Take A Peek.’

[via Press release]

Instant disease diagnosis: via cellphone

Japanese cellular operator, NTT DoCoMo, claims to have demonstrated a 'molecular delivery system' that it one day hopes to incorporate into cellphones enabling instant remote diagnosis of the user's health and emotional state. [via IT WIre]

"The cellphone would be equipped with a 'biochip' - a fingertip-sized microchip for biological and chemical analysis that would be capable of extracting single molecules from the user's sweat, or blood and by analysing these identify a range of diseases, or simply the person's level of stress, anxiety or excitement.

The data generated from the biochip would be transmitted to a medical specialist over the cellular network. DoCoMo says the system could be used, for example, for remote health checks or preventive medicine."

Recognize Internet and Text messaging addiction as mental illnesses

Compulsive e-mailing and text messaging could soon become classified as an official brain illness, reports The Ottawa Citizen.

"An editorial in this month's issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry says Internet addiction -- including "excessive gaming, sexual pre-occupations and e-mail/text messaging" -- is a common compulsive-impulsive disorder that should be added to psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders."

Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Dr. Block says people can lose all track of time or neglect "basic drives," like eating or sleeping. Relapse rates are high, he writes, and some people may need psychoactive medications or hospitalization.

Dr. Block says about 86 per cent of Internet addicts have some other form of mental illness, but that unless a therapist is looking for it, Internet addiction is likely to be missed.

He argues that the phenomenon warrants being included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychiatry's official dictionary of mental illnesses. The next edition is due out in 2012. A draft is expected to to be available for public comment next year.

Driving study deals blow to hands-free phones

Simply listening to a cellphone distracts drivers, a study concludes. The finding raises questions about the effectiveness of laws that ban only the use of handheld devices while driving. USA Today reports.

"Neuroscientist Marcel Just, director of the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh studied 29 volunteers who used a driving simulator while inside an MRI brain scanner. The volunteers steered a car along a virtual winding road undisturbed or while deciding whether a sentence they heard was true or false.

Listening while driving led to a "significant deterioration in driving accuracy," Just and his co-authors write in the latest issue of the journal Brain Research. The drivers hit the guardrail and veered out of the center of the lane more often while listening.

"Certain activities in life are inherently multitasking, but driving and cellphone use isn't something Mother Nature thought about when she was designing our brains," Just says.

Concern in Europe on Cellphone Ads for Children

Driven in part by a lack of knowledge over the long-term health effects of mobile phone use, parent groups in Europe have called for a ban on marketing to children. The New York Times reports.

"... The objections are driven in part by a lack of knowledge over the long-term health effects of mobile phone use. But they also appear to reflect an instinctive worry about whether parents should be giving young children cellphones at all. Jóvenes Verdes, an environmental advocacy group for young people in Spain, argues that “the mobile telephone industry is acting like the tobacco industry by designing products that addict the very young.”

Brain imaging shows cell phone use affects driving

Using a mobile phone while driving could be as dangerous as being under the influence of alcohol, according to a new study, reports FreshNews.

"In fact, the study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that drivers under the influence of alcohol and those speaking on cell phones tend to commit the same errors.

Using brain imaging, the study has documented how mobile phone use alone reduces 37 percent of brain activity engaged in driving. For instance, drivers using a simulator while on the phone were found to zigzag out of their lanes.

The findings - published in the latest issue of the journal Brain Research - also suggest that making cell phones hands-free or voice activated is not enough to eliminate distractions."

Related: -- Cellphone talkers as bad as drunk drivers: 2006 study by the University of Utah

Protestors clueless on wireless health risks

A very interesting read by Peter Cochran on the reality of wireless health risks on Silicon.com.

"Many protest groups actively campaign against wireless in any form because of some unknown and unquantified potential risk to health. These groups include those preventing base station towers being erected close to their schools or in the middle of their communities.

Unfortunately their lack of understanding actually has an inverse reality impact. If they understood the basic physics involved they would be asking for more towers and not fewer. Living really close to a mobile phone base station tower is the safest place to be.

Here is what is happening. The mobile phone pressed close to your ear adjusts its transmit power according to the distance from the base station.

That means the further from the tower the lower the power received by a mobile and the higher the power transmitted back as a result.

So if you get really close to a base station your mobile sees lots of signal and therefore transmits back a minimal amount in turn. Interesting, isn't it? That is the inverse perception of the protestors.

... And now for the really good news. The radiation from mobile devices, base stations, wi-fi and WiMax equipment is non-ionising. That is, it can only jiggle cells and warm them up. To do any real lasting damage, very high powers are required - microwave oven-style."

Mobile phone radiation might alter protein expression in human skin

A new study completed by the
Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) on effects of mobile phone radiation on human skin strengthens the results of the human cell line analyses: living tissue responds to mobile phone radiation. Science Daily reports.

"... In the study, a small area of forearm’s skin in 10 volunteers was exposed to GSM signal for one hour. After that skin biopsies were collected from exposed and non-exposed areas of skin and all extractable proteins were examined. The analysis of 580 proteins identified 8 proteins that were statistically significantly affected.

According to Dariusz Leszczynski, Research Professor at STUK it is much too early to say will these changes induced by the mobile phone radiation have any effect on health.

”Mobile phone radiation has some biological effect. Even if the changes are small, they still exist”, says Dariusz Leszczynski, Research Professor at STUK.

The entire article "Mobile phone radiation might alter protein expression in human skin" is available in the BMC Genomics web journal.

Should blackberries come with a health warning?

Is the cell phone industry headed down the same road as the tobacco industry, with health warnings on it's packaging? It could happen for two reasons, the first if further studies conclusively prove that cell phones really do cause different types of cancer, and/or, because it's addictive.

The latter is an idea floated by UK researchers studying technology addiction. Tom Simonite for New Scientist Blog>Space reports.

Nada Kakabadse and Susan Bailey of The University of Northampton are interested in technology addiction and have just launched an online survey to gather more data on people's use of technology in the workplace and how it affects the rest of their life - like fast food. You can take part in the survey yourself here.

Kakabadse told Simonite that the explosion of information technologies over the last 20 years has happened without much scrutiny on its effect on people. Technologies introduced to improve productivity and communications can have wider, possibly negative impacts."

Turning Your Cellphone Into an electrocardiogram

Stockholm based Kiwok turns any mobile phone handset into a mobile ECG (electro-cardiogram).

Software installed on your handset monitors your heart rate. It can automatically phone a doctor, or hospital, if dangerous abnormalities are observed.

[The Inquirer via Gizmodo]

Another Cellphone Radiation Study: How it affects your Skin

Finnish researchers have expanded on earlier in vitro skin cell studies and this time used human volunteers who were exposed to a computer controlled GSM phone at 900 MHz on an area on their arms, then a biopsy taken. The control was a similar area on their other arm with no exposure, and again, a biopsy of the area was taken.

The results they obtained show alterations to some of the skin cell proteins on the exposed side, very similar to their earlier studies. They say that this indicates more human testing should be undertaken.

You can read the abstract here: "Mobile phone radiation might alter protein expression in human skin".

[via Technocrat]

Nutritional Text Messages Check out Restaurants

Nutrition on the Go is a free text message service that lets you get nutritional information like calories, fat and protein on your favorite restaurant foods.

"We have 1,700 restaurants in the database right now and we're going for the top restaurant chains to start with," Meredith Oliver of diet.com said.

Here's how it works: You punch in a special number, then enter the restaurant name and specific food item, and in an instant a text message appears with the nutritional information.

[via Orlando news health page]

(Another) Study Proves Cell Phone Use Effects Semen Quality

Cell phone Digest reports on a Cleveland Clinic which has investigated the effect of cell phone usage to semen quality. The study was consistent with previous studies conducted in 2006, 2005 and 2002.

"The study included three hundred sixty-one men who were divided into four groups according to their active cell phone usage: Group A = no use; Group B = less than 2 hours per day; Group C = 2­4 hours per day; and Group D = more than 4 hours day.

... The study concluded that use of cell phones decrease the semen quality in men by decreasing the sperm count, motility, viability, and normal morphology. The decrease in sperm parameters was dependent on the duration of daily exposure to cell phones and independent of the initial semen quality.

Link to complete Cleveland Clinic study (pdf)

Links to other studies on cell phones affecting male fertility

Clothing manufacturers take no chances:

-- Radiation From Electronics Devices Fuels A Retail Niche

-- New men's underwear protects from harmful cell phone rays

-- Smart pants for Cell-Phone users with "Radiguard'

-- Levi Strauss launches a pair of trousers with an "anti-radiation" cell phone pocket

Mobiles 'not brain cancer risk'

Mobile phone use does not raise the risk of brain tumours, a Japanese study suggests. The BBC reports.

The research is the first to look at the effects of hand set radiation levels on different parts of the brain.

Tokyo Women's Medical University found no increased risk of the three main types of brain cancer among regular mobile phone users.

The study, comparing 322 brain cancer patients and 683 healthy people, appears in appears in the British Journal of Cancer.

They studied the radiation emitted from various types of mobile phone, and placed them into one of four categories relating to radiation strength.

And they also analyzed how each phone was likely to affect different areas of the brain.

Lead researcher Professor Naohito Yamaguchi said: "Using our newly developed and more accurate techniques, we found no association between mobile phone use and cancer, providing more evidence to suggest they don't cause brain cancer."

Previous research on the safety of mobile phones has produced contradictory results. However, most have suggested no association with an increased risk of cancer.

The largest study to date, involving 420,000 people, failed to find any evidence of a cancer trend even after 10 years of use.

Dr Lesley Walker, of the charity Cancer Research UK, said: "So far, studies have shown no evidence that mobile use is harmful, but we can't be completely sure about their long-term effects. "

Mobile phones, coffee found unlikely to cause cancer

Drinking coffee, using mobile phones or having breast implants is unlikely to cause cancer, according to a risk ranking system devised by an Australian cancer specialist to debunk popular myths. [via Reuters]

"The five-point system created by University of New South Wales Professor Bernard Stewart lists the risk of cancer from proven and likely, to inferred, unknown or unlikely.

... Stewart's research was published in the latest edition of the Mutation Research Reviews journal to mark world cancer day on Monday."

Mobile phones and young brains

Australian scientists are investigating if children are more vulnerable than adults to the effects of radiation from mobile phones. The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

"A study of 110 adults at the Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bioeffects Research, partly funded by the Federal Government, confirmed mobile phones cause a change in brain function by altering brainwaves known as alpha waves.

The centre, at Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology, is now investigating the effect on 40 children aged 12 to 13, and 20 people aged 55 to 75 years."

Mobile phone use on hospital site

A hospital has introduced wi-fi technology to track lifesaving medical equipment in a move that could lead to mobile phone use inside wards. The BBC reports.

"The £70,000 telecommunications technology could allow medical staff to use laptop computers and mobile phones.

Signal strength is low and does not interfere with medical devices.

Jason Britton, clinical scientist, said: "The technology can improve efficiency considerably because it should reduce the amount of time clinical staff spend trying to find portable medical devices. Potentially this system can also be used for telephone communications."

USDA Calls For Re-Examination OF Cell Phone Health Risks

With the proliferation of mobile devices and their extensive use, past studies on health risks related to cell phone radiation need to be re-examined, according to the FDA which this week asked the National Research Council to identify further research that shows the effects of long-term exposure to these devices. TechWeb reports.

"More studies need to be conducted that measure the effects of extended mobile device use by teenagers, children, pregnant women, and fetuses, as well as exposure to cellular base station antennas."

Mobile Phone Radiation Affects Sleep : US Study

Mobile phones severely disrupt sleep patterns, according to scientific research into their impact on human rest, funded by the Mobile Manufacturers Association.

The research undertaken by the Electromagnetic Academy based at the MIT, in the United States, exposed 71 men and women, aged between 18 and 45, to mobile phone radiation as they prepared to sleep.

According to the study, monitoring under laboratory conditions showed the initial ‘light’ phases of sleep in the subjects were affected. In addition, “exposure to 884 MHz wireless signals, components of sleep, believed to be important for recovery from daily wear and tear, are adversely affected.”

The research also found that those exposed to mobile phones during their sleep appear to have more headaches, than those not exposed.

[via Response Source]

Update A more detailed article dated January 20th by The Independent sheds further light on the study.

"... The findings are especially alarming for children and teenagers, most of whom – surveys suggest – use their phones late at night and who especially need sleep. Their failure to get enough can lead to mood and personality changes, ADHD-like symptoms, depression, lack of concentration and poor academic performance."

The low radiation cell phone holder

Spotted on Red Ferret, a mobile phone case which claims to reduces harmful radiation. The best part of course is always TRF's take.

France warns against excessive mobile phone use

The French Health Ministry on Wednesday issued a warning against excessive mobile phone use, especially by children, though it recognized science had not proved cellular technology was dangerous. Reuters reports.

"... Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin said on France 2 television that mobile phones given to children could be useful safety items, but parents should be cautious about frequent use."

Apple working on auto-volume control for iPhones

According to UK's Daily Mail amid growing fears that listeners could cause irreversible damage to their hearing - the highest setting is as loud as a chainsaw - Apple is developing an automatic volume control.

"A new patent reveals that the next iPods and iPhones could automatically calculate how long a person has been listening and at what volume, before gradually reducing the sound level.

The device will also calculate the amount of "quiet time" between when the iPod is turned off and when it is restarted, allowing the volume to be increased again to a safe level.

The patent states: "Since the damaging effect on users' hearing is both gradual and cumulative, even those users who are concerned about hearing loss may not behave in a manner that would limit or minimise such damaging effects."

[via Crave]

Smart Glove with Thumb Support

Spotted on Popgadget, a smart glove with thumb support for texting without injury.

New Zealand woman diagnosed with text thumb

A New Zealand student, who sends up to 100 text messages a day on her mobile phone, has been diagnosed with the country's first known case of text-messager's thumb. The Brisbane Times reports.

"The 20-year-old has texting tenosynovitis, an inflammation of the tendons in the thumb caused by constant text messaging.

There have been only two other reported cases of the ailment - a school-aged child in Singapore and a 13 year-old girl in Australia."

Links to related Text injuries.

Pressure from sickened residents forces mobile operator to tear down base antenna

This is disturbing news. According to HDR Japan, NTT DoCoMo Kansai, Inc. has decided to remove an antenna base station for mobile phones, after local residents complained of health problems they claimed were caused to the electromagnetic waves emitted from the station.

"At the Osaka Summary Court on Monday, NTT DoCoMo Kansai and a group of local residents reached a settlement after the mobile phone carrier agreed to remove its antenna base station in Kawanishi, Hyogo Prefecture, by around June next year.

... Residents near the area started to suffer from health problems such as headaches, ear ringing and a rise in blood pressure and blood sugar levels after the antenna base station came into operation."

D.I.Y. diagnostics as close as your cellphone

Coming soon to your cellphone - Do It Yourself diagnostics. Canada.com reports.

"The University of Alberta and Capital Health are teaming up with a major global electronics company from Korea to develop a health monitor that can be used with a cellphone.

It would allow patients to test their temperature, heart rate and blood pressure, and then send the data to a nurse, said Bob Haennel, chairman of the physical therapy department of the The U of A.

The D.I.Y. technology would be especially useful for seniors with limited mobility who have difficulty getting to a medical clinic for regular checkups. It would also help those living in remote and northern communities who struggle with high blood pressure or need monitoring when they start a new medication.

Haennel will be testing prototypes of the monitor in university labs before it reaches patients in clinical trials. He envisions a device built into a cellphone, similar to music players or cameras"