We've all heard of radiation. At the very least, we all know that it is a viable option for cancer treatment. Well I've been hearing more and more about how overly present it is in our daily lives. It is emitted from our cell phones, our wireless modems, our laptops, our cordless phones, and even our baby monitors. It is impossible to avoid all of these things in our daily lives, but my goal is to share the evidence with you as to how dangerous radiation can be. There is no question that the items above (and others) emit radiation. The debate begins when we try to tease out how much radiation is considered safe. In my brain, if something is powerful enough to kill cells in my body (cancer treatment), I don't care the amount, I don't want it near me or my baby. But to avoid radiation would mean living out on 100 acres with no electronics. I LOVE my gadgets and don't think I could live without my iphone, so the next step is to be smart about exposure. Recently the National Institutes of Health released data reporting that less than an hour of cell phone exposure to one side of your head can speed up brain activity. This is the first study to indicate brain changes with low level radiation exposure. The authors are careful to state that the study does not attempt to create a causal link between exposure and problems later in life. However, scientifically speaking, radiation alters the contents of the cell that it is targeting. This is not disputed. So, it makes sense that the changes in the brain from the cell phone exposure is actually damage to the cells themselves. Cancer cells are mutated normal cells. Something alters those cells to make them cancerous. Radiation has the potential to be a culprit. Currently, the Environment Working Group is working to make it a requirement for companies to disclose how much radiation their cell phones emit.
Several states have recently passed laws outlawing talking on the cell phone while driving. While I fully support these laws, there is a side-effect. We now all have Bluetooths that, while handy, also emit radiation. And many people have them on constantly, so they are constantly emitting radiation on that side of the brain. The easy alternative is to use the hands free set that plugs into the phone. Beyond the concern of cell phones near your (or you baby's) brain, there is also the concern of where they are when you aren't talking on them. Are they in your pocket? Bad idea. Are they next to you at your desk? Trying moving it further away. Does it sit in your console in your car? Try placing it over in your passenger seat. There have also been serious concerns raised over pregnant women's exposure. Radiation has the potential to affect the growing baby, even though it is fully enveloped in the womb. There has been some research that indicates that fetuses exposed have higher rates of hyperactivity and challenges with appropriate social behavior later in life. It is equally important to keep our babies (and older children) away from cell phones (and the other items mentioned above).
A quick note on the other radiation emitting devices mentioned above: On my current to-do list is to find a phone with a cord and to donate our cordless phone. My son does not get to be near the cell phones or the computers, except when we Skype with the grandparents. I really try to not only keep the cell phone away from my son, but I try to not even talk on it when he's around, especially if I'm holding him. My husband used to keep his phone on at night in case of emergencies, but would leave it by his bed because it is also his alarm in the morning. Now, we leave my phone on, but out in the living room, and he puts his phone on airplane mode so that it is not transmitting a signal and therefore not emitting radiation. We do not keep our computers on unless we are using them. When they are on, we try really hard to not have them on our laps (super important if you are pregnant). My dream is to someday have a house big enough that we actually have an office and can keep our laptops plugged in to the internet cable and not use a wireless modem. If our room was closer to my son's we would not use a baby monitor, but that is not how our house is laid out. We do use a baby monitor, but it is as far away from the crib as possible.
What is scary to me, is that we can't avoid radiation. What makes life so convenient, like WiFi and our cell phones, is also posing a huge health risk to us. We can't avoid these things, but we can try to cut down on our exposure.
There's an analogy I have not yet used on this blog that I find applies to many things I talk about. Smoking. It was not initially considered dangerous. It was promoted in so many ways. When a few people began to question it's safety, society was outraged. And of course it's now common knowledge how dangerous they are. What will it take for our society to realize the dangers of pesticides, radiation, additives in our foods and vaccines, fluoride in our water, etc? This is my personal crusade...
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/cellphone-use-tied-to-changes-in-brain-activity/
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/06/03/cell-phone-use-during-pregnancy-can-seriously-damage-your-baby.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/10/30/children-should-not-use-cell-phones-but-my-today-show-interview-does-not-support-that.aspx
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