Brain Plugs

Brain Tumors and Cellphone Exposure Continues

An Italian court recently weighed in on the debate over cellphone use and the development of brain tumors when they found in favor of a longtime telecommunication employee, Roberto Romeo, who claimed a benign brain tumor resulted in hearing loss in one ear. Interestingly, both Romeo and his attorney made reference to inappropriate use of a cellphone that led to the development of the tumor. Romeo reportedly used his cellphone for three hours a day over 15 years while doing his job for the mobile phone company.

This is not the first time the Italian court found in favor of a plaintiff claiming cellphone use triggered a brain tumor. In 2012, the Italian Supreme Court upheld a ruling linking an executive’s cellphone use to a tumor on the same side of his head he held his cellphone five to six hours a day for over 12 years.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has long held to the safety of cellphone use, as has the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute of Environmental Health Science and the National Cancer Institute.

SAR Rating Has Little to Do With Safety

Cellphone companies, on the other hand, appear to believe there is some danger, warning users to keep the phone at least 1 inch from your body, and to minimize the amount of time you spend with the phone up to your ear. The warning is usually found in tiny print in the manual or deep inside the legal section of your phone.

The biologic reality, however, is far worse. Keeping the phone 1 inch away from your skull will have a relatively modest reduction in exposure. You need to move it 2 TO 3 FEET (around 1 meter) away from your head to reduce the exposure by over 90 percent, as I show in the above video.

The FCC13 developed specific absorption rates (SAR) that set “safe” exposure limits for the radiation emitted from cellphones. The maximum, determined by lab testing 20 years ago based on a 200-pound man, was determined to be 1.6 watts per kilogram.

SAR information is published on the cellphone manufacturer’s website or, using the FCC ID number of the phone, on the FCC database. The American Academy of Pediatrics warns these standards do not account for the unique use pattern and development fragility of children and should be revised.

Please understand that the SAR information is virtually useless, as it seeks to measure thermal (heat) damage, and that is not the source of the pathology. It is the damage to your mitochondria from peroxynitrite and other factors that is the problem.

Physicians from Yale and Harvard also warn pregnant women to limit their exposure to cellphones to reduce the impact RF radiation may have on their child’s developing neurological system. The CTIA, the association representing U.S. wireless communications industry.

Not All Radiation Is Created Equally

There are two general categories of EMF radiation native (natural) and non-native (artificial). Native radiation comes from natural sources of energy, such as the sun, and is actually is healthy for you. Artificial or non-native EMF can be broken down into four different categories, one of which is important to cellphone users.

The first is magnetic, involving the interaction of a charge with a magnetic field. The second is electromagnetic interference (EMI, commonly referred to in layman’s terms as “dirty electricity”). It appears EMI has the ability to increase mitochondrial free radical damage and contribute to mitochondrial dysfunction. The third is artificial light, such as LED or fluorescent lighting that contributes to a decrease in melatonin at night, affecting your sleep and mitochondria.

The type of EMF your cellphone, microwave and Wi-Fi emit is in the microwave megahertz to less than 10 gigahertz range. Your microwave oven is not a significant factor as your exposure is typically intermittent and not usually close to your body. Other devices, however, consistently emit microwave radiation at levels that damage your mitochondria.

This means they have enough non-native energy to cause the production of reactive nitrogen species like peroxynitrite that remove an electron and damage the DNA inside your mitochondria and the nucleus of your cells. Increased peroxynitrite generation has also been associated with increased levels of systemic inflammation by triggering cytokine storms, autonomic hormonal dysfunction and, of course most importantly, mitochondrial dysfunction.

Who Is Using Cellphones?

McCormick believes the result of damage from cellphone radiation may not be fully realized for another 10 or 15 years as a major portion of the population has been using this technology for only about 15 years. While that may seem like a long time, it may take even more years before damage is acknowledged.

The largest danger to the population exists with children who use their phones more frequently and for longer periods of time each day than adults, starting from the time they’re very young. The average age a child receives their first smartphone is just over 10 years, and half of children under 10 already have a smartphone.

Children in the U.K. spend four hours or more each day on their mobile phones, with that number increasing over school breaks by up to two hours a day. American students spend close to double that time, with teens using media nine hours a day and college students up to 10 hours each day.