手机辐射引发百姓健康隐忧.doc

手机辐射引发百姓健康隐忧

Could your cellphone give you cancer? Whether it could or not, some people are worrying about the possibility that phones, powerlines and wi-fi could be responsible for a range of illnesses, from rashes to brain tumors。

For example, Camilla Rees, 48, a former investment banker in the US, moved out of her apartment in San Francisco because of the radiation coming from next door。

Rees told the Los Angeles Times that when her neighbors moved in and installed a wi-fi router she lost her ability to think clearly. “I would wake up dizzy in the morning. I’d collapse to the floor. I had to leave to escape that nightmare,” she said. Since then, she’s been on a crusade against low-level electromagnetic fields, or EMFs。

And she’s not alone. Millions of people say they suffer from headaches, depression, nausea and rashes when they’re too close to cellphones or other sources of EMFs。

Although the World Health Organization has officially declared that EMFs seem to pose little threat, governments are still concerned. In fact, last April, the European Parliament called for countries to take steps to reduce exposure to EMFs. The city of San Francisco and the state of Maine are currently considering requiring cancer-warning labels on cellphones。

If these fears are justified, then perhaps we should all be worried about the amount of time we spend talking on our phones or plugging into wi-fi hotpots。

Some say there is evidence to support the growing anxieties. David Carpenter, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University at Albany, in New York, thinks there’s a greater than 95 percent chance that power lines can cause childhood leukemia. Also there’s a greater than 90 percent chance that cellphones can cause brain tumors。

But others believe these concerns are unjustified paranoia. Dr Martha Linet, the head of radiation epidemiology at the US National Cancer Institute, has looked at the same research as Carpenter but has reached a different conclusion. “I don’t support warning labels for cellphones,” said Linet. “We don’t have the evidence that there’s much danger。”
Studies so far suggest a weak connection between EMFs and illness–so weak that it might not exist at all. A multinational investigation of cellphones and brain cancer, in 13 countries outside the US, has been underway for several years. It’s funded in part by the European Union, in part by a cellphone industry group. The final report should come out later this year, but data so far don’t suggest a strong link between cellphone use and cancer risk。

According to Robert Park, a professor emeritus of physics at the University of Maryland in the US, the magnetic waves aren’t nearly powerful enough to break apart DNA, which is how known threats, such as UV rays and X-rays, cause cancer。

Perhaps it’s just psychological. Some experts find that the electro-sensitivity syndrome seems to be similar to chemical sensitivity syndrome, which is a condition that’s considered to be psychological。

Psychological or not, Rees suffers physically and has her own defense strategy. She shuns cellphones and spends as much time as she can in low-EMF areas. “I like to spend time in the mountains and by the sea,” she said。

Whether EMFs are harmful or not, a break in the countryside, without the cellphone, would probably be good for all of us。

手机辐射引发百姓健康隐忧

随着手机以及Wi-Fi设备等工具的日益普及，人们逐渐对这些用具的电磁辐射(electromagnetic radiation)产生恐惧，认为他们对身体产生极大危害，会导致皮疹，脑瘤等疾病。然而时至今日，依旧没有一个确定的结论，表明低强度电磁辐射会对人体造成损害。

手机可以致癌？不管这一说法是否属实，人们已经开始担心，电话，输电线以及wi-fi可能会引发皮疹，脑瘤等一系列疾病。

48岁的美国人Camilla Rees曾是一名投资银行专家。由于受不了邻居家产生的电磁辐射，她搬出了位于旧金山的寓所。

Camilla Rees在接受《洛杉矶时报》采访时表示，新邻居入住后就安装了Wi-Fi路由器，之后自己便失去了清晰思考的能力。她说：“早晨起床时我会觉得头晕，并且常常会摔倒在地板上。我必须要逃离这个梦魇。”从那时起，Camilla Rees就成为了一位坚决反对低强度电磁辐射(也被称为EMFs)的人士。

而她并非孤立无援。数以百万记的民众表示，当同手机及其它电磁源亲密接触时，自己会感到头痛、抑郁、恶心，并患上皮疹。

尽管世界卫生组织已发表官方声明称，电磁辐射似乎不会造成太大的威胁；但各国政府还是对此非常担忧。事实上，去年四月份，欧洲议会就曾呼吁各国采取重大措施，控制电磁磁场的影响范围。同时，旧金山及缅因州也正在考虑在手机上粘贴“手机会提高癌症可能性”的标签。

　　如果这些担忧并非无稽之谈，那么我们可能都要为自己花在电话和wi-fi无线网络上的时间而担忧了。

　　人们表示不断增加的恐慌是有一定依据的。纽约阿尔巴尼大学环境健康科学教授David Carpenter认为，高压电线导致发生儿童期白血病的几率超过95%。同时，机会导致发生脑部肿瘤的几率也超过90%。

　　但也有一些人认为这是在杞人忧天。美国国立癌症研究所的辐射病学主任Martha Linet博士也曾做过与Carpenter教授一样的研究，但得出的结论却不同。Linet博士说：“我不赞成在手机上粘贴警示标志，目前我们并没有证据表明手机的使用会造成脑癌的发生。”

　　到目前为止，各项研究数据表明电磁辐射同各种疾病之间联系甚微，甚至可以忽略不计。一项由13个国家参与，致力于验证手机是否会导致脑癌的跨国研究已进行多年。该研究由欧盟及部分手机产业公司赞助。该研究报告将于今年年底公布，但目前的研究数据却表明手机的使用同脑癌的发生概率二者之间并没有较大联系。

　　美国马里兰大学(University of Maryland)的名誉物理学教授Robert Park则表示，与紫外线以及X射线不同，电磁波的能量很微弱，不足以分裂DNA，也就无法致癌。

　　也许这只是心理效应。一些专家发现电磁敏感综合症似乎与化学敏感性综合征很相像；在某种情况下，化学敏感性综合征是由心理因素引起的。

　　不管是否出于心理原因，Camilla Rees都遭受了身体上的不适。对此，她还有一套自己的对策。她会尽量避免使用手机，并且尽可能让自己待在低强度辐射的环境当中。她表示：“我喜欢逗留在山里或者是海边。”

　　不管电磁辐射有害与否。远离手机，去乡间度假，这或许对我们来说是很有益处的。