Fearmongering and Cell Phones
When We Can’t Trust our Experts
CNN recently posted an article about the head of a prominent cancer research institute issuing a warning to his faculty and staff to limit cell phone use because of potential cancer risk.
So? Does this mean that we should start limiting our cell phone use as this expert who should know best says? One of the problems in American society is that we don’t trust our experts enough. Even though we have among the best engineers, scientists, and thinkers in the world, Americans tend to give equal credence to both real experts (PhDs, researchers in the field) and individuals who simply appear with the real experts on “panel discussions” on T.V. (who range from religious fanatics to average joes who simply declared themselves experts).
However, this ridiculous fearmongering makes it almost understandable to me why Americans have this chronic mistrust of people with fancy titles and degrees. Although no other cancer institute or respectable doctor has declared anything of the sort, Dr. Ronald B. Herberman and his compatriot, Dr. Devra Lee Davis has taken it upon themselves to inform the public about the dangers of cell phones.
The Claim
What exactly is the problem here?
“The issue that concerns some scientists — though nowhere near a consensus — is electromagnetic radiation, especially its possible effects on children.”
Electromagnetic radiation.
A fancy word for everything from radio waves to visible light to x-rays. Although some types of electromagnetic radiation is dangerous, if electromagnetic radiation alone is the cause of concern, everyone in the world should be entering panic mode in avoiding the light emitted from their lamps, neon signs, and yes, cell phones.
According to Dr. Davis:
“‘The question is, do you want to play Russian roulette with your brain?’ she said from her cell phone, while using the hands-free speaker phone, as recommended. ‘I don’t know that cell phones are dangerous. But I don’t know that they are safe.’”
Basically enough, she has no convincing evidence that it does harm, so she is simply pointing out that there doesn’t seem to be enough convincing evidence that it does not. This is tantamount to me declaring that strawberries are dangerous, because even though I don’t have a definitive study showing this, no one has done a study that has proven that they aren’t.
As any scientist can tell you, this isn’t how science works. You can’t definitively “prove” anything, but you can at least find convincing evidence through doing an experiment isolating all other potential causes of a particular phenomenon (i.e. cancer). The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute seems to be attempting to drum up some media attention rather than actually do real research.
Unfortunately, there have been some endorsement for this, but I’m guessing for reasons rather than the soundness of their conclusions:
“She said 20 groups have endorsed the advice the Pittsburgh cancer institute gave, and authorities in England, France and India have cautioned children’s use of cell phones.”
One would guess that if someone called you up on the phone and asked you, “We have evidence that use of cell phones causes life-threatening cancer. Would you endorse advice to children to limit the use of cell phones?” that you would say yes.
It’s a relatively low cost solution to a potentially dangerous problem, even if it is ephemeral. Of course government authorities are going to issue advisories, in this case. If the cancer risk is not real, oh well, who’s going to care? If it is real, well, they would be in some trouble if they didn’t issue the advisory, wouldn’t they? It’s more a game of avoiding blame rather than actually looking at facts.
The Reality
“Cell phones emit radiofrequency energy, a type of radiation that is a form of electromagnetic radiation, according to the National Cancer Institute.”
For my two cents, according to Dr. Robert Muller of the Physics Department of the University of California Berkeley, cell phones emit radiation in the “microwave frequency zone.” As such, it’s basically the same thing that’s emitted by radars, and, of course, microwaves. Let’s put aside cell phones for the moment. Science has not determined any physical way for microwaves to cause cancer at this point, let alone cell phones.
Microwaves are a wavelength that make water molecules move faster, thus heating things with water in them up (in other words, you cannot heat something in the microwave that has NO water content). For living things, like humans, you can be blinded, burned, and otherwise have nasty things happen to you in high enough concentrations, but this is a different issue altogether from getting genetic mutations (which is the cause of cancer).
It’s like saying that heat causes cancer (or more specifically, hot water causes cancer). Tanning causes cancer because UV rays hit the genetic material in cells and mutate them potentially into cancerous cells. Putting hot water bags in your blanket in the winter does not cause cancer.
This simply goes to show that you cannot put your absolute trust even in “respectable” media outlets and have to always keep in mind to question what is said, even from experts.
Although this particular case seems to have justified this existence of this blog, it seems to have utterly torn apart my previous gripe that Americans don’t trust their experts enough.
It looks like they may have a point.
