[Sosfbay-discuss] Making Cell Phones sound scary

[Cameron L. Spitzer]

"Those who refuse to do arithmetic are doomed to talk nonsense."

Cell phones are indeed scary.  I've worked with some of
the real experts in a field known as "electromagnetic
compatibility", where we measure and control the
E-M emissions from electronic systems.  None of them
was evangelical about it, but none of them would
use a cell phone nor let his (they were all men) family
use one.  Holding a four watt microwave emitter one
inch from your brain is, intutively, a really bad idea.

But we have something in EMC known as "the square law."
The intensity of an E-M field falls off with the square
of the distance from the emitter.  So if you hold the phone
two inches from your brain, the field is a quarter as strong.
Two feet from your brain and it's less than 2% of the
intensity compared to how most people use the damn things.
If I had to use a cell phone I'd place it three feet
away from my body and use a headset with a cord
and not worry too much.

The other "EMF" hazard I'd be concerned about in
daily life isn't cell towers, it's cell *non*-towers.
Cell phone companies don't put up a tower where they
can rent space on an existing structure.  You see their
emitters on water towers and office buildings.  If there's
one tall building in a small town, there's a pretty good chance
it's got cell phone emitters bolted to the outside wall
at the top floor.  I don't think I'd want the office
just inside from one of those things.

Microwaves *are* dangerous at high intensity.  Sailors
are killed every year working too close to shipboard
radars, and the Navy covers it up.  Stand in front
of a weather radar or next to a commercial UHF TV
transmitting antenna and you'll die instantly.
I suspect cops get cancer and strokes every year from
using radar guns.  But none of the other emitters
mentioned in the article really emit significant fields.
Living near a power line is not going to hurt you.
Nor is the wireless Ethernet box in your house or
your cordless base-station phone.

Finally, any advocacy group claiming scientific knowledge
that confuses *heat* with *temperature* in its publications
has no credibility with me.  So much for the
"International EMF Project."


Cameron