SIGHTINGS


 
It's Official - Cell Phones
DO Scramble Your Brains
Source: Sunday Mirror - London
From Gerry Lovell <ed@farshore.force9.co.uk>
4-4-99
 
MOBILE phones do scramble your brains, a Government study has confirmed.
 
A report by experts at Bristol University shows that microwaves from mobiles affect your nervous system.
 
It is disturbing news for Britain's 13 million mobile phone users, who have been bombarded with conflicting information about potential dangers.
 
Official advice says as long as mobiles conform to Government guidelines on heating your brain, they are safe.
 
But critics of the industry have long believed it is not the heating effect which could cause long-term damage - but the scrambling effect on the brain's electrical impulses.
 
The study carried out on 36 volunteers clearly showed mobiles make us react faster in certain situations - a brain function which is controlled by electrical flow.
 
The report - due out next week - was not intended to address fears about cancer risks.
 
But Dr Alan Preece, who led the study, concludes that mobile radiation does affect the brain, principally the part of the brain's cortex which links speech and vision.
 
Last night experts said the Government-funded study was too small in its scope, but admitted it gave grounds for concern and proved the need for more widespread research.
 
Microwave radiation expert Alasdair Philips of consumer watchdog Powerwatch said volunteers were subjected only to small amounts for about 25 minutes at a time.
 
"But the fact that it showed any effect at all means there is an urgent need for a repeat of this work with many more people and longer exposure times."
 
Each volunteer was fitted with a headset attached to a mobile phone simulator in the tests at Bristol Royal Infirmary.
 
They were subjected to analogue and digital signals and tested to measure their mental efficiency and reaction time.
 
Volunteers responded more quickly in one test when subjected to microwave radiation - meaning it had affected the central nervous system.
 
Responses were faster to analogue signals, which are continuous, than to digital signals, which are broken up.
 
Yesterday the Sunday Mirror tracked down one of the human guinea pigs.
 
Mother-of-two Sue Pycock, 48, put on the headphones and watched 10 versions of a similar image and memorised them.
 
A second sequence was shown and she had to respond by pressing a button every time she saw one from the previous set.
 
A computer recorded the accuracy and speed of her responses. Sue, of Clevedon, Somerset, said: "Some of them were tricky but most were pretty easy - I don't know if that had anything to do with the microwaves."
 
Experts pointed out that Dr Preece did not use real mobile phones but microwave simulators.
 
A digital mobile emits low-frequency magnetic field pulses as well as microwave radiation.
 
These are created by the battery switching power on and off 217 times a second as signals are sent by the mobile. They pass right through the head and out the other side.
 
Mr Philips said: "These low-frequency fields may have a greater effect on performance such as memory than microwave radiation."
 
The report will be published on Thursday in the International Journal Of Radiation Biology.





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