In an age where everybody depends on digital technology such as cellphones, keeping your mobile device in your pocket may not seem like a big deal, yet, the potential impact it could have on your bodily health may say otherwise.
We all do it, almost without thinking; carrying the mobile phone on our bodies has become second nature. Despite the normalcy of this, cellphones are still high-powered devices that emit a low level of a kind of energy known as radiofrequency radiation.
Mobile phones communicate with cellphone towers and one another by using radiofrequency waves, which are a form of electromagnetic radiation. These waves are the least intense form in the electromagnetic radiation spectrum, however, this doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t do any damage over time.
According to the American Cancer Society, high-intensity radiofrequency radiation can produce heat and cause elevated body temperatures and even burns.
Though the ACS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Cancer Institute all consider cellphones noncarcinogenic and safe, aside from the possibility of them overheating.
While radiofrequency radiation is considered nonionizing and less carcinogenic than more intense radiations such as gamma rays and X-rays, some research suggests a potential connection between radiofrequency radiation from cellphones and higher rates of certain cancers and other health conditions.
The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer considers electromagnetic fields generated by cellphones “possibly carcinogenic” to humans.
Although some research has suggested possible correlations between cellphone use and higher rates of some brain cancers, none of these studies have proved that mobile devices actually do cause these diseases, and authors have expressed some doubts about how accurate people’s reported patterns of cellphone use were.
Meanwhile, there are concerns about whether or not cellphones are linked to male infertility, according to Devra Davis, founder and president of Environmental Health Trust. Research shows that high levels of smartphone radiation can “damage the engines of the sperm, called the mitochondria,” Davis says. “They die three times faster than natural.”
Despite these theories and studies around the rise in male infertility, there is not enough evidence as of yet to assert that cellphone radiation is a factor or cause in this pattern.
While there is still not enough evidence to show that radiation from cellphones are directly harming people, many medical professionals suggest you keep your smartphone as far from your body as possible to reduce the potential risks.
