healthbriefs
Are Cell Phones Safe? Q
uestions about how cell phones might impact our health have sparked significant controversy. The World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has now classi- fied radio frequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans, based on an increased risk for glioma, a malig- nant type of brain cancer associated with wireless phone use.
Caution was also urged in an article
about cell phone safety published this past October in the journal Electromag- netic Biology and Medicine. It reported that cell phones that are switched on and carried in shirt or pants pockets can exceed U.S. Federal Communications Com- mission exposure guidelines, and also that adults and children absorb high levels of microwave radiation from the phones. According to the paper, children are at greater risk than adults, absorbing up to triple the amount of microwave radiation in their brain’s hypothalamus (which links the nervous and endocrine systems) and hippocampus (vital for memory and spatial navigation) compared to adults. Ab- sorption into their eyes was also greater, and as much as 10 times higher in their bone marrow than adults’.
The IARC concludes that these findings call for cell phone certification consistent with the “as low as reasonably achievable” approach taken in setting standards for using radiological devices. “It is important that additional research be conducted into the long-term, heavy use of mobile phones,” says IARC Direc- tor Christopher Wild. “Pending the availability of such information, it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure [directly to the head], such as hands-free devices or texting.”
Additional resource: Epidemiologist Devra Davis, Ph.D., reports on this topic in Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation.
C
QIGONG: A BOON FOR CANCER PATIENTS
ancer patients that regularly practiced qigong, a 5,000-year- old combination of gentle exercise and meditation, for al- most three months experienced signifi- cantly higher levels of well-being, improved cognitive functioning and less inflammation, compared to a control group. Dr. Byeong- sang Oh, a clinical senior lecturer at the University of Sydney
Medical School, in Australia, who led the study, says the reduced inflamma- tion in patients that practiced medical qigong, a form of Traditional Chinese Medicine, was particularly significant. The project involved 162 patients, aged 31 to 86; those assigned to the medical qigong group undertook a 10-week program of two supervised, 90-minute sessions per week. They were also asked to practice an addi- tional 30 minutes at home each day. When the study began, there were no significant differences in measurements of quality of life, fatigue, mood status and inflamma- tion between the intervention and control groups. However, “Patients that practiced medical qigong expe- rienced significant improvements in quality of life, including greater physi- cal, functional, social and emotional well-being, while the control group deteriorated in all of these areas,” reports Oh.
He remarks that the study is the first such trial to measure the impact of medical qigong in patients with cancer. “Several studies have indi- cated that chronic inflammation is associated with cancer incidence, progression and even survival,” Oh explains. He presented the findings at a recent American Society of Clinical Oncology conference.
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