So you believe in those little green men? - think again!
July 26th 2008 07:12
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From The Star Phoenix: Canada
The late, great science fiction writer Arthur C. Clark was celebrated for his towering imagination, but he never lost sight of the distinction between the science and the fiction.
Neither should the rest of us, he warned.
"You can't build a healthy democracy," said Clark, "with people who believe in little green men from Venus."
Clark died this spring, but if he was still around, he might have added the amendment that neither can you build a healthy democracy with people who believe that cellphones cause brain damage.
Welcome to Toronto, where brain damage seems to be going around, and not among cellphone users. Public health authorities in that city are warning parents to limit their children's cellphone use lest their brains be damaged by the radio waves. This is the kind of nonsense that you expect to hear from mental patients. They're often plagued by radio waves. Now they're running the public health department in Canada's biggest city. This can't be healthy.
That cellphones have no significant effect on anyone's health is as about as well established as anything can be. The most exhaustive, long-term, independent studies are quite conclusive. Common sense only confirms the science. Cellphones have been around for 30 years. They're ubiquitous. If they caused brain cancer, say, we'd be seeing a lot more brain cancer. But we're not. In Canada, for example, the incidence of brain cancer is actually down a little. Meanwhile, since the advent of cellphones, average life expectancy has increased by about three years. This is not what you'd expect if cellphones were killing us.
Health Canada, at least, has drawn the obvious conclusions. The federal agency advises there is no convincing evidence that cellphone transmissions are harmful. So it must be something else that's got into their heads in Toronto.
Of course, cellphones do have an effect on human safety, especially as a distraction to drivers. That's why more and more jurisdictions are making it illegal to yak on the phone while driving. You don't need a lab coat to know that a distracted driver is more likely to overlook the yield sign. Studies confirm the connection between cellphone use and inattentive driving. The science aligns with common sense to inform public policy. This is how it's supposed to work.
In Toronto, however, it works a little differently. The warning there about cellphones and brain damage is more aligned with fear of the bogeyman than with science or with common sense. Sure, cellphones might pose health risks that as yet are unknown, but this is pretty much true of everything. Eating turnips might pose health risks as yet unknown, but I don't hear any warnings from Toronto to limit our turnip consumption.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty didn't help by supporting the baseless warning about cellphone use. He says children should not be allowed unrestricted use of cellphones until science has established they're safe. Never mind that science, to the extent it can, has already and repeatedly established exactly that. What will it take to convince him?
But do take care, one of my recent posts did establish such a link between cell phone usage and brain cancer. Even if it is not widespread you don't want your family and especially your children, to be one of the few, do you?
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Comment by Lester Caudill
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Comment by katyzzz
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Caution with children, especially, is being urged, quite frankly I would not take that risk myself and would be especially careful with children.
Some of us can tolerate a degree of poison, of any sort, which others cannot.
The surgeons who operate on these tumours will lead the way to our increased knowledge.
I'll keep my eyes open for other findings.