Cell Phone Study - Glad I'm Not a Male Rat

[easysurfer]

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A study released Friday found an increased risk of certain cancers in animals exposed to cell phone radiation, a conclusion that could reignite concerns over the safety of the widely used devices.

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Researchers found small increases in rare cancers in the brains and hearts of male rats exposed to nearly constant, high doses of radiation from cell phones, compared to rats that weren't exposed. There was no increase in cancer among exposed female rats, according to the study, which represent "partial findings" of a larger project.

Study in rats reignites debate over cell phones and cancer

Let the cell phone debate resume

[NW-Bound]

Nature always picks on males. Not even rats got an exception. Did I say that life is not fair?

[2017ish]

Even apart from one study, rats, other studies, dose responsiveness (9 hours daily!?), yada yada, this was interesting:

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The rats were exposed to "whole body" cell phone radiation for a total of nine hours a day for two years. About 2% of exposed rats — 11 out of 540 — developed malignant gliomas, a type of brain tumor. About 3.5% of exposed rats — 19 out of 540 — developed a type of tumor called a schwannoma in the heart. Schwannomas also can develop in the acoustic nerve, which is involved with hearing. None of the rats in the control group, which wasn't exposed to radiation, developed either type of tumor. Yet, in a surprising finding, those animals lived shorter lives than the ones exposed to the cell phone radiation.

But, of course, were they GOOD extra years?

[W2R]

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The rats were exposed to "whole body" cell phone radiation for a total of nine hours a day for two years.

Let's see -- that's a total of 6570 hours of cell phone radiation over their entire bodies. Which, of course, is 394,200 minutes.

At my usual average cell phone exposure of probably 5 minutes/day, I'd get an equivalent total exposure after a mere 216 years. I've had a cell phone for 15 years already, so this would be around my 269th birthday.

Of course, that would just be with the phone held to my ear, not getting radiation over my entire body. And, the radiation would not be concentrated within such a brief time period.

I'm worried, I tell you! Terrified!

[Senator]

I wonder if WiFi signals are even worse. Or BlueTooth. Or magnetic fields, as are around all high power lines, and even all the wiring in your own home. Or florescent lighting. Or water going through plastic lines. Or ...

At least they tested on animals.

[Bamaman]

I feel better now that I dumped my cell phone. I seldom used it, and it was a waste of money in my case.

Now if I could dump my satellite television and my internet. I might have a better chance of not getting cancer--and have much better eyesight.

[M Paquette]

In unrelated news, scientists announce that everything causes cancer in rats.

It looks like that was 9 hours of steady transmitter operation. Interesting, because cellphones are a packet radio system, transmitting even constant voice as short, compressed packets with the transmitter off between bursts (30-40% duty cycle for a typical connection). That is, the RF exposure appears to roughly match the exposure from talking continuously 24 hours a day. Multiple power levels were used in the exposures.

The actual incomplete study and data are here: http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/e...55699.full.pdf

One fun note:

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At the end of the 2-year study, survival was lower in the control group of males than in all groups of male rats exposed to GSM-modulated RFR. Survival was also slightly lower in control females than in females exposed to 1.5 or 6 W/kg GSM-modulated RFR. In rats exposed to CDMA-modulated RFR, survival was higher in all groups of exposed males and in the 6 W/kg females compared to controls.

[NW-Bound]

CDMA technology has been losing to GSM in recent years for technical reasons, as I recall. Will this cause a reversal? Buy, buy, buy Qualcomm stock? The whole result looks like some random event.

Heck, the radiation level of 6W/kg when scaled up to a person means that your body would have to absorb around 500W (actually a lot more - see concurrent "fat people" thread).

Darn, would that not make you feel warm all over? Would you not die of heat first before of cancer?

[easysurfer]

My big question is what's so important that rats need to chit chat on a cellphone? Just what can they be talking about?

[rodi]

It doesn't account for the more typical use of a cell phone - case study #1: My 15 year old son. Has earbuds plugged into cell phone from about 6am to 9pm. Much of the time is watching youtube videos. Sometimes listening to soundcloud. All of it rotting his brain, and disengaging him from the world. The cell phone won't kill him - I will if he doesn't put it down and do some homework.

(Sorry - just told him to put it down for the 5th time in an hour when I read this thread.)

[W2R]

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Originally Posted by easysurfer My big question is what's so important that rats need to chit chat on a cellphone? Just what can they be talking about?

Lady rats!

[easysurfer]

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Originally Posted by W2R Lady rats!

Of course!

[devans0]

Who moved my cheese.

[aja8888]

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Originally Posted by NW-Bound C Heck, the radiation level of 6W/kg when scaled up to a person means that your body would have to absorb around 500W (actually a lot more - see concurrent "fat people" thread). Darn, would that not make you feel warm all over? Would you not die of heat first before of cancer?

With that much power concentrated between two of your fingers, you could hold a welding rod and run a nice molten bead and join two 1/2" steel plates.

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2017ish Even apart from one study, rats, other studies, dose responsiveness (9 hours daily!?), yada yada, this was interesting: But, of course, were they GOOD extra years?

Yeah, I hear their elder care centers are real ratholes...

[RonBoyd]

You Need More Than Rat Tumors to Prove Phones Cause Cancer | WIRED

Quote:

“But still, mice, rats, any animals are imperfect models,” says Ralph deVere White, director of UC Davis’ Comprehensive Cancer Center. For instance, cancer drugs developed using mice have a 96 percent failure rate when used on humans. Not to say that researchers shake off whatever findings they get from mouse or rat studies. It’s just that turning those findings into something scientifically grounded takes real work.

[Lsbcal]

My only concern is having the phone in my pocket for many hours per day. Ladies have purses and I am not going to go that route.

[CaliforniaMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by M Paquette In unrelated news, scientists announce that everything causes cancer in rats. It looks like that was 9 hours of steady transmitter operation. Interesting, because cellphones are a packet radio system, transmitting even constant voice as short, compressed packets with the transmitter off between bursts (30-40% duty cycle for a typical connection). That is, the RF exposure appears to roughly match the exposure from talking continuously 24 hours a day. Multiple power levels were used in the exposures. The actual incomplete study and data are here: http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/e...55699.full.pdf One fun note: "At the end of the 2-year study, survival was lower in the control group of males than in all groups of male rats exposed to GSM-modulated RFR. Survival was also slightly lower in control females than in females exposed to 1.5 or 6 W/kg GSM-modulated RFR. In rats exposed to CDMA-modulated RFR, survival was higher in all groups of exposed males and in the 6 W/kg females compared to controls."

I didn't read the article, my attention span is not that long, but wouldn't the above finding make the authors want to pretty much discard the results? Or maybe change their title to read, "CELL PHONE USE PROLONGS LIFE"
Their followup research could then center on the affects of cell phone use to a rat's quality of life.

[Walt34]

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Originally Posted by rodi It doesn't account for the more typical use of a cell phone - case study #1: My 15 year old son.<snip> The cell phone won't kill him - I will if he doesn't put it down and do some homework.

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Originally Posted by CaliforniaMan Or maybe change their title to read, "CELL PHONE USE PROLONGS LIFE"

Well, with certain exceptions involving angry mothers....

[kcowan]

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Originally Posted by W2R I'm worried, I tell you! Terrified!

Rightly so. You are in the untested population. Who knows what your fate might be!