Prolonged cell phone use can damage DNA beyond repair and males who rest laptops on their laps can reduce chances of reproduction by damaging the environment needed to create sperm, according to several new studies.
A German research group called Verum and a British group called the National Radiological Protection Board concluded in separate studies that while there is no hard evidence to indicate dangers from cell phone use, "uncertainties remain and a continued precautionary approach to their use is recommended until the situation is further clarified."
Since laptops and cell phones are recent inventions, the studies shy away from making any long-term predictions on the devices' impact, but warn consumers to be wary of reckless use. Cell phone users in particular are advised to purchase earpieces and to keep the phones away from children, who have more sensitive skulls that are more receptive to harmful radiation than adults.
The German research was conducted over four years and used human and animal cells as control and experimental groups. After being exposed to the phone's electromagnetic fields, "the cells showed a significant increase in single and double-strand DNA breaks" which could not always be fixed by the cell, according to Reuters. If the cells become damaged and reproduce, the mutated cells could cause cancer.
In another study, cited in the Financial Times, a Swedish group called the Karolinska Institute found that people who used phones for more than a decade had acoustic neuroma (a non-cancerous tumor) at a rate four times higher than normal. Critics of the study say that today's phones exhibit far less radiation than the phones used in the Karolinska study.
However, previous studies have stopped short of finding damaged cells, instead pointing to nausea and headaches. Cell phone companies have also noted that there is no solid evidence pointing to damage from cell phone use.
In the case of laptop use, the evidence is more solid and less controversial than the cell phone studies.
Temperatures in men's laps rose by an average of 5.7 degrees with laptops - an increase that can be fatal for reproductive prospects, according to a study conducted and written by Dr. Yefim Sheynkin of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Sperm production is situated in the testicular glands in an external sac that maintains a lower temperature than the rest of the body. Since the internal temperatures of laptops can reach 150 degrees and men tend to close their legs when using a laptop, that combination with long-term use "may cause irreversible or partially reversible changes in male reproductive function," according to the study.
As little as 15 minutes of on-the-lap laptop use may have an effect on the creation of sperm, Sheynkin said.
Men who use laptops are also encouraged to put their computers on tables where the high internal operating temperature is far from the body.
One student said that he was undeterred about the study and would wait until more studies came out that conclusively linked cell phone use to cancer.
Greg Roman, a sophomore in the School of International Service, said while he does use a laptop, "I don't use it on my lap, but until I have trouble in the bedroom, I'm getting the laptop"
