For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Health Issues page and our Appetite For a Change page.

 Many of these habits are not only completely accepted by our society and typically viewed as risk free, but are extremely common as well. There’s a good chance you’re probably engaging in at least one of the risks on this list, but after reading the truth about it, you may decide it’s just not worth it.

Are You Taking These Unnecessary Health Risks?

1. Holding a Cell Phone to Your Ear

 As the use of cell phones and other wireless technologies have exponentially exploded over the past couple of decades, concerns about the health effects of such technology have increased as well. Today, we’re at a point of no turning back, as cell phone subscriptions are now estimated at 5 billion globally-that’s the majority of people on the planet!

 A growing body of researchers have spoken out against the technology, warning that it may have serious biological side effects, not the least of which is an increased risk of brain tumors. Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO)/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) issued a report admitting cell phones might indeed cause cancer, classifying radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” (Class 2B).i

 The classification came in part in response to research showing wireless telephone use increases the risk for brain cancer.

 An analysis from Sweden, published in Neurology & Neurophysiology,ii projected a very large increase in brain cancer incidence resulting from widespread mobile phone use beginning in approximately 15 years. The projections are based on well-established effects of this radiation on DNA. Specifically, that mobile phone use decreases the efficiency of the repair of mutated DNA and increases the rate of DNA mutations.

 Earlier this year, Health Canada proposed adopting a precautionary principle approach and issued guidelines for limited cell phone use. Many other countries have already done so to some degree, including Russia, the UK, Israel, Belgium, Germany, India, Finland and France.