Cell Phones = Cancer, Says World Health Organization

As if we did not have enough to think about these days...now the World Health Organization (or WHO) is saying cell phones can produce cancer at the same level as the threat posed by lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.

Now we can understand lead, or engine exhaust, but chloroform? (that's the stuff they put on hankerchiefs to knock people out in movies).  According to a new report from the WHO the brain is being exposed to a tiny version of a microwave oven.  From CNN:

"The biggest problem we have is that we know most environmental factors take several decades of exposure before we really see the consequences," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The type of radiation coming out of a cell phone is called non-ionizing. It is not like an X-ray, but more like a very low-powered microwave oven.

The European Enviornmental Agency has pushed for more studies, claiming the risk from cell phones could be as great as those from emissions from leaded gasoline, among others.   This report comes on the heels of previous information from the World Health Organization claiming there were no known adverse side effects from cell phone use.  The problem here is speculation.  Cell phones have just not been around long enough (3-4 decades of mainstream use) to enable studies to track health effects--like there have been with leaded gas and other enviornmental issues.  Meanwhile, cell phone manufacturers counter by saying,  (Apple Computers) that properly manufactured cell phones do not exceed FCC guidelines for exposure to potentially harmful radiation or other factors.  Scientists DO know the effects of  raidiation, radio waves and other similar factors because this basic technology has been around since the turn of the century.  So who do we believe? the WHO (which is an arm of the dubious United Nations) or tech manufacturers who have had to build their products to some of the strictest health guidelines in the world?