There’s no definitive proof that holding a cell phone next to your head can cause brain cancer, but according to our friend Dr. Mehmet Oz, one of the foremost physicians in North America, there haven’t been enough long-term studies to prove that cell phones don’t cause cancer. According to ABC News, the average person spends 12-and-a-half hours a month talking on their cell phone, and every call floods your brain with electromagnetic radiation called Radio Frequency energy – also known as RF. So, the less you have your phone next to your head, the better. Of course, Dr. Oz says you don’t have to give up your cell phone, but until scientists prove whether RF radiation is dangerous or not, it wouldn’t hurt to follow these rules:
- Kids under age 14 should only send text messages. Or use a cell phone set on speaker, or with a corded headset. Since a child’s skull is thinner than an adult’s, their risk of radiation damage is much higher.
- In fact, Dr. Oz says everyone should use a headset or speaker phone. Corded headsets emit almost no RF radiation. Even moving the phone four inches away from your head reduces your brain’s RF exposure by 1,000 times.
- Know this: If you have a wireless earpiece, don’t wear it when you’re not talking on the phone. The earpiece emits less radiation than a cell phone, but it still sends out constant radiation while it searches for signals from your cell phone.
- Another cell phone tip from Dr. Oz: Stay off your cell phone if the signal is poor. Why? Fewer bars mean the phone has to work harder to get a signal, which means it emits more radiation than usual.
- Finally, don’t use a cell while you’re driving or in an elevator. When you’re on the move, the cell phone signal has to jump from one wireless tower to the next, and it needs to emit more radiation than usual just to maintain the connection.
