Experts revive debate over cellphones and cancer

From Tara Parker-Pope in The New York Times:

Last week, three prominent neurosurgeons told the CNN interviewer Larry King that they did not hold cellphones next to their ears. “I think the safe practice,” said Dr. Keith Black, a surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, “is to use an earpiece so you keep the microwave antenna away from your brain.” Dr. Vini Khurana, an associate professor of neurosurgery at the Australian National University who is an outspoken critic of cellphones, said: “I use it on the speaker-phone mode. I do not hold it to my ear.” And CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon at Emory University Hospital, said that like Dr. Black he used an earpiece.

Mobile phones alter brain behavior?

From David Pescovitz in Boing Boing:

New research shows that the electromagnetic signals emanating from mobile phones can alter your brainwaves. Indeed, the latest studies suggest that mobile phone transmissions can even affect behavior. In one study, scientists from the Swinburne University of Technology monitored the brainwaves of folks with Nokia phones, er, strapped to their heads. They noticed that the cell phone transmissions boosted alpha waves. In a separate experiment, researchers from the Loughborough University Sleep Research Centre observed that sleep-deprived subjects with phones on their heads showed a dampening of delta waves that are markers of sleep. For hours after the phones were turned off, the test subjects exhibited difficulty falling asleep. From Scientific American:

Although this research shows that cell phone transmissions can affect a person's brainwaves with persistent effects on behavior, (Loughborough University's James) Horne does not feel there is any need for concern that cell phones are damaging. The arousal effects the researchers measured are equivalent to about half a cup of coffee, and many other factors in a person's surroundings will affect a night's sleep as much or more than cell phone transmissions.

"The significance of the research," he explained, is that although the cell phone power is low, "electromagnetic radiation can nevertheless have an effect on mental behavior when transmitting at the proper frequency." He finds this fact especially remarkable when considering that everyone is surrounded by electromagnetic clutter radiating from all kinds of electronic devices in our modern world. Cell phones in talk mode seem to be particularly well-tuned to frequencies that affect brainwave activity. "The results show sensitivity to low-level radiation to a subtle degree. These findings open the door by a crack for more research to follow. One only wonders if with different doses, durations, or other devices, would there be greater effects?"

Cell phones linked to disturbed sleep

From BBC:

Using a mobile phone before going to bed could stop you getting a decent night's sleep, research suggests. The study, funded by mobile phone companies, suggests radiation from the handset can cause insomnia, headaches and confusion. It may also cut our amount of deep sleep - interfering with the body's ability to refresh itself. The study was carried out by Sweden's Karolinska Institute and Wayne State University in the US.

This research suggests that if you need to make a make a phone call in the evening it is much better to use a land line. Funded by the Mobile Manufacturers Forum, the scientists studied 35 men and 36 women aged between 18 and 45. Some were exposed to radiation equivalent to that received when using a mobile phone, others were placed in the same conditions, but given only "sham" exposure.

Those exposed to radiation took longer to enter the first of the deeper stages of sleep, and spent less time in the deepest one. The scientists concluded: "The study indicates that during laboratory exposure to 884 MHz wireless signals components of sleep believed to be important for recovery from daily wear and tear are adversely affected."

Researcher Professor Bengt Arnetz said: "The study strongly suggests that mobile phone use is associated with specific changes in the areas of the brain responsible for activating and coordinating the stress system." Another theory is that radiation may disrupt production of the hormone melatonin, which controls the body's internal rhythms. Read entire story here.

CellDar: Monitoring traffic via cell radiation

From Daily Wireless:

The Missouri Department of Transportation has begun anonymously monitoring cell phone signals as a high-tech way of tracking vehicle speeds and warning motorists of traffic jams. The goal is for motorists to get real-time traffic information over the Internet or road signs. Privacy concerns have slowed down the Missouri project - the largest of its kind nationally - which was supposed to have been deployed statewide by summer 2006 under a contract with Markham, Canada-based Delcan Corp.

Technology firms like Delcan and Atlanta-based AirSage (above) insist their data remain anonymous, leaving no way to track specific people from their driveway to their destination. The technology uses cellular signals to track car movements. Then it overlays that data with highway maps to estimate where the phones are and how fast they are moving. Lumping thousands of those signals together can indicate traffic flow. Many cities and states already measure traffic speeds and volumes by embedding sensors in pavement or mounting scanners along the road. But those methods can be expensive and take only a snapshot of traffic at a particular spot.

A recent study at Florida International University said nearly 30 companies and organizations claim to have the capability to provide real-time traffic data based on anonymous information gleaned from cell phones. But “the cell phone technology is not accurate in congested traffic conditions, where the data is more important than in the free-flow traffic conditions, and the accuracy decreases rapidly as the congestion increases,” according to the Florida report from this April. When it won the Missouri contract in December 2005, Delcan planned on using data from Cingular Wireless. But before the project could ever get started, Cingular opted out. “The cell phone company thought it just wasn’t worth the risk that the public might perceive their personal information was being used that way.”

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) raised concerns a couple years ago that once the cell phone data is collected and shared, it could end up being used for other government purposes such as law enforcement centers. Despite assurances to the contrary from the technology’s proponents, those concerns remain, said Lillie Coney, EPIC’s associate director. “The mission creep potential is there,” Coney said. “There are other ways of figuring out traffic patterns without having to go to something that’s so identifiable as a cell phone.”

It’s sounds similar to Celldar which exploits the RF signals radiated from ordinary cell base stations. BAE SYSTEMS and Roke Manor Research are teaming to develop CELLphone raDAR. Everything that moves can be tracked after subtracting static reflections. Lockheed-Martin is perhaps the best-known passive-radar champion, but others include Avtec Systems, Dynetics, and ONERA, the French counterpart of NASA. Lockheed-Martin’s system is dubbed Silent Sentry which tracked all air traffic over Washington, D.C., using FM and TV transmitters.