In our world today, you see smartphones everywhere you go. In fact, there seems to be no limit to who gets to use wireless technology – from the littlest babies who watch videos and learn their ABCs online to our grandmothers and grandfathers who now play games on smartphones and tablets to amuse themselves. Everyone seems to accept these gadgets as a part of our lives.
What is unfortunate is that there are new studies that are conclusively linking cell phone radiation to certain health issues in children, as well as the unborn babies inside their mothers’ wombs.
Just recently, there was a pediatric conference held at the Baltimore Convention Center where Yale and Harvard doctors and scientists were very vocal about this potentially dangerous cell phone radiation to the unborn children’s brain development. It appears that they found a correlation between cell phone use while pregnant and the manifestation of behavioural problems in children as they develop.
Additionally, exposure to cell phone radiation has also been linked to several types of cancer, including brain and breast cancer. A significant study found a strong correlation between the use of cell phone and heart and brain tumors. Children’s brains actually absorb up to 10 times as much cell phone radiation from wireless gadgets compared to adults. This is because they have thinner craniums that put them at higher risk for brain cancer.
The average adult tends to check his or her cell phone about a dozen times a day (there are some cases wherein the subjects check theirs over 100 times). What most parents do not know is that they are exposing their infants and young children to radiation whenever they do this.
That is why it is important that pregnant women be warned to keep their cell phones far from their bellies – more so, when they are in their last trimester. If possible, use a hands-free device and keep the phone itself as far as possible. Similarly, parents should also limit their young children’s use of their cellphones and tablets.
Because we have only been using cell phones for a couple of decades now, the result of long term use is still unknown. But already, there are studies that connect high usage of this gadget with negative effect on one’s ability to focus, as well as some behavioural issues.
With these new findings, we should definitely do our best to minimize our exposure to wireless technology and radiation from smart phones. Of course, special protection should be given to the littlest members of our families.
