Whenever someone talks about electro magnetic radiation from wifi or phones, I usually point out the massive ball of radiation in the sky that will burn their skin in 15 minutes of exposure and is known to cause cancers in millions of people. People tend to forget about that one when they are obsessing about low powered mobile devices.
Paranoia like this from the original WHO doc http://www.magdahavas.com/2010/12/02/are-smart-meters-safe/
and then there's whole orgs worried they're gonna get cancer http://stopsmartmeters.org/2011/08/11/smart-meters-not-green...
One random dude handed me a pamphlet about stopping the smart meters, citing that it was 10 feet from his head when he slept and that he'd have to find a new home if they actually install it.
I feel like I'm watching people make themselves crazy with panic over something that has little science to back it up.
Yes, there is a widespread belief amongst the general public that wi-fi and mobile phones are dangerous.
Ionizing radiation is the main cancer culprit and you can be sure the sun emits far more such radiation - mainly in the form of UV rays - than your cell phone. Which is at frequency levels below visible - mainly microwaves I think.
There's also effects of the heat given off by the phone heating your head, but I ignore that.
Well, you can. That's the whole point.
You pose the hypothesis "unknown mechanisms in non-ionizing radiation cause cancer". Then you do the research, and then when you don't find the cancer effects, you rule out these "unknown mechanisms".
That's science.
> There's also effects of the heat given off by the phone heating your head, but I ignore that.
And so does everybody else, because heat doesn't cause cancer.
Additionally, the phone heats your head? Citation? And not just "well it's microwaves so it probably heats things around it by some billion-thousandth of a degree", but an actual citation of mobile phone radiation heating your head, preferably in a manner that is still somewhat significant when compared to the tiny temperature fluctuations caused by natural cell processes (as, you know, if a mitochondria generates more heat than a nearby phone, the point is probably moot, no?).
It would not surprise me if the temperature raise due to incepreased thermal insulation when using a mobile phone where higher than that 0.1 degree.
I thought you were mixing them up at first, but re-reading you did get it right. To clarify, in case anyone else got confused too:
UV is just above the visible spectrum in frequency.
Microwaves are below infrared, below visible.
(from Wikipedia) "Radiation on the short-wavelength [high frequency] end of the electromagnetic spectrum—high-frequency ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays—is ionizing, due to its composition of high-energy photons. Lower-energy radiation, such as visible light, infrared, microwaves, and radio waves, are not ionizing. The latter types of low-energy non-ionizing radiation may damage molecules, but the effect is generally indistinguishable from the effects of simple heating."
See here the EM spectrum for reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EM_Spectrum_Properties_edi...
And don't forget there are millions of people lining up every day to actually pay money to submit their body to uv radiation in tanning booths. The dangers are pretty well known now, but they're still around.
All I'm saying is that, like most paranoias, from sharks to terrorists and mobile phones along the way, the risk ratio is skewed when fantasy and imagination takes over cold hard facts.
Note too that exercise also raises brain temp but your brain is quite able to regulate its temperature under normal conditions (e.g. no certain drugs or overly hot).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_radiation_and_heal...