Could Your Cell Phone End Up Killing You?

A new debate is raging over whether prolonged cell phone use poses serious health side effects.

February 5, 2010 | Source: Alternet | by Daniela Perdomo

In the debate over cell phones, there doesn’t appear to be any consensus on what, exactly, the harmful health effects on cell phone users may be. Unfortunately, the scary truth is that no one knows the full extent of problems caused by these must-have consumer electronics, because they’ve only become ubiquitous in recent years.

Nevertheless, at least one group of people who has been using cell phones longer than the rest of us has started to draw some connections.

In an extensive piece on cell phone health hazards in this month’s issue of GQ, a 35-year-old investment banker who five years ago was diagnosed with a brain tumor just behind his right ear — where he presses his phone — said that his industry has, “been using cell phones since 1992, back when they were the Gordon-Gekko-on-the-beach-kind-of-phone.” The banker said four or five colleagues at his firm also have similar tumors.

Indeed, health experts say many often miss the fact that it can take anywhere from 10 to 30 years for brain tumors to develop from exposure to all kinds of electromagnetic radiation, including the kind from cell phones.

But it doesn’t always have to take so long. LeBron James, the 24-year-old star basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers had a benign parotid tumor removed in June last year. While the cause of his tumor is undefined, radiation is likely to be the culprit — and cell phone use may be, too.