BETTER SAFER THAN SORRIER

I hate to be a worrywart, but I am, always have been and probably always will be. One of the things that has bothered me for a while is cell phones. For years I’ve heard talk about the potential danger. Was it an urban legend that they were causing brain tumors or was it truth?

I will say that I’ve been called a Henny Penny (the sky is falling girl)

and a Nervous Nelly many times in my life. And it’s not an unwarranted slur. My mind just naturally goes to “what if the half full or empty glass falls off the counter and crashes onto the kitchen floor, shattering and slicing into the femoral artery of my nearest and dearest? What if the row boat sinks in the middle of the lake? What if the man who has locked himself in the lavoratory on my airplane is really a terrorist who has brought many tiny bottles onto the airplane and is now assembling them into a liquid nitrogen bomb? I am a writer, for goodness sake. I can’t help it if I have an overactive imagination.

I had a few extra minutes this morning as I woke up an hour before I needed to get up. (I’m not sure why, but it could have been the wind that was screeching around our doors and windows like banshees on the prowl.) With the extra time, I decided to check out Dr. Oz’s article: Dr. Oz: “5 Health Risks I Won’t Take—and Neither Should You”

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/health/Health-Risks-to-Avoid-Dr-Oz-on-Health-Hazards/3#ixzz2Q18aRKrS.

The first risk to avoid is Triclosan in your toothpaste, Dr. Oz advises. I immediately went into the bathroom. Geez, I tried to read the label on my toothpaste tube—it’s so small that it’s unreadable. I decided to forgo my brushing until I got a magnifying glass. Gingivitis is a small price to pay to avoid a potential carcinogen.

Advice Number 3 deals with cell phones…I knew it! Read the following and take heed.

“Science says: Cell phones emit radio frequency (RF) energy, a type of radiation deemed “possibly carcinogenic” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Unlike the radiation from a CT scan, RF energy isn’t strong enough to break DNA bonds, but the tissues near the ear you use when you’re on the phone can absorb it. Some research suggests that this could slightly increase your risk of developing brain tumors, but at least two studies that looked at brain tumor incidence among people who used cell phones regularly for ten years or more found no connection. While such news is reassuring, the medical community believes it’s difficult to know the health consequences of cell phone use until longer-term studies are done. 

For safety’s sake: Avoid keeping the phone pressed up against your ear; I use the speaker phone or a hands-free headset to reduce my RF exposure. Whenever possible, I also wait until I have strong cell phone reception to make calls; the weaker the signal, the more RF energy the phone emits to keep calls from dropping. At night, don’t sleep with your phone right next to your bed—it still releases RF when it’s transmitting data as you get pinged with e-mails and texts.”

OMG! I knew it! I told my kids, but would they believe me? Of course not; I’ve been giving out dire warnings for years. But they should listen. Even I can’t be wrong all the time.