If cell phones are now dangerous what about computers?

Recently there has been a lot of attention paid to the new studies saying cell phones are carcinogenic, potentially cancer causing, comparable to pesticides and the stuff your car spits out. Well if this is the case for cell phones what about computers and laptops that most of us hover over all day at work?
I understand the differences between a laptop and a cell phone but in essence isn't one just a smaller version of another?
The up and down debate over issues such as these makes me not believe anything anymore. It seems everything is the target for some type of problem at some point. But as I went through the airport today and saw several people sitting with laptops in there laps, talking on the phone my playful mind started seeing a man with testicular cancer, another with brain cancer, a women who had her phone in her bra - obviously breast cancer!

reply to post by AnteBellum


I think Japan is trying to divert attention away from the reactor meltdown by saying our phones are the source of all the radiation.

...are carcinogenic, potentially cancer causing, comparable to pesticides and the stuff your car spits out.

The idea that cell phones cause cancer is going against every legitimate study and this recent wave of it being labelled "possibly carcinogenic to humans" is ridiculous. It's basically saying it might, but it might not - obviously saying "cell phones might not cause cancer" isn't a great eye catching news story, so they sensationalized it.

They put cell phones into group 2b of the IARC's list of carcinogenic agents:

The agent (mixture) is possibly carcinogenic to humans. The exposure circumstance entails exposures that are possibly carcinogenic to humans. This category is used for agents, mixtures and exposure circumstances for which there is limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and less than sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals

List of IARC Group 2b Carcinogens

Some of the odd things in this group involve coffee, night shifts, dry cleaning and the like. I find the recent news and study silly to be honest.

All radiation, electromagnetic, RF, etc is bad for the human. Why do you think cancers are on the rise since the industrial revolution? It isn't because cancer wasn't properly documented, as the medical community would have you believe. I read that Nikola Tesla regretted many of his inventions because of the harm they could cause as far as radiation, not sure how accurate that is, but seems fitting.

The WHO is not on my A list of organizations to pay much attention to. With coffee on the list, too, it means little. I think the key is moderation. For my daughter who may as well have a cell phone implant because she talks on it so much, perhaps she should be concerned. But I have one cup of coffee per day and talk on a cell phone a couple of times a week. It's not really an issue.

Originally posted by Whyhi

...are carcinogenic, potentially cancer causing, comparable to pesticides and the stuff your car spits out.

The idea that cell phones cause cancer is going against every legitimate study

Define "legitimate".



Plenty of "legitimate" studies that say you don't know jack!!

reply to post by AnteBellum


OP, they are only claiming that the radio transmissions from cell phones are dangerous, not the cell phones themselves when they are not transmitting.

Computers don't output radio transmissions (unless they have a wireless network card to utilize wireless internet), so they are not dangerous. Even if they do have a wireless network card the transmissions are not as powerful as cell phone transmissions so they would probably be less harmful (if not completely harmless because you are not holding it to your head).

Most laptops come standard with a wireless network card, but if you don't use it you can turn it off. On my desktop computer I don't use wireless internet, I use a wire (wireless sucks and is subject to interference). If I ever need to use wireless I will plug in my USB wireless network card, and when I don't need it I unplug it so there is no radio transmissions.

So, no, computers are not dangerous.

add your cellphone to your computer, and to your microwave oven, to your tv, to your electrical system,
to the whole grid. etc etc

you are bombarded by EMR from all angles

one or two devices wont do much on long term, the issue is we have loads of them and they are always around us.


our brain picks up all the frequencies emited even though we are so used to it, we think of it as common, such as knowing a tv is on in one room even when your in the other.

Originally posted by againuntodust
All radiation, electromagnetic, RF, etc is bad for the human.

No, not all electromagnetic radiation is bad for humans. The human body actually creates a lot of radiation. However, too much of anything can be bad (so it's kind of a contradiction).

Originally posted by AnteBellum
Well if this is the case for cell phones what about computers and laptops that most of us hover over all day at work?
I understand the differences between a laptop and a cell phone but in essence isn't one just a smaller version of another?

One answer in the thread is pretty good (and some answers aren't so good). I'll get to that in a minute, but here's what you need to know:
First I know something about this topic, I'm not just a random person throwing out ideas. I have a degree in this stuff.

If you are a very heavy cell phone user, there probably is some reason for concern, especially if you hold the phone/antenna directly next to your head. That is not recommended by Apple or Blackberry:

www.nytimes.com...

the legal departments of cellphone manufacturers slip a warning about holding the phone against your head or body into the fine print of the little slip that you toss aside when unpacking your phone. Apple, for example, doesn’t want iPhones to come closer than 5/8 of an inch; Research In Motion, BlackBerry’s manufacturer, is still more cautious: keep a distance of about an inch.

The warnings may be missed by an awful lot of customers.

Confession time, I know this but if I'm just going to make a quick call I'll still hold the phone next to my head sometimes, especially if I'm in a noisy environment, I can't hear what the other person is saying too well when holding the phone an inch from my head...who can? So even if you know about this warning to keep the phone at least an inch away, will you actually do it? I don't always do it, and I'm one of the few who knows about it.

But the reason I'm not too worried is, I use my cell phone infrequently in this manner, and, usually I have it over a foot from my head and I use an ear bud with a mic on the wire, that plugs into the phone. This is really the best advice I can give to keep it away from your head.

Now if your laptop is in your lap, it's more than an inch away from your head, right? The inverse square law applies so if you keep an antenna 10 inches away, the signal is less by a factor of 100 compared to being 1 inch away. Go the opposite direction and the closer to your head than 1 inch, the more the signal strength increases, so that at 1/10 of an inch the signal is 100 times stronger than an inch, and 10,000 times stronger than at 10 inches. Maybe not exactly, but you get the idea and you can see why pressing the phone directly against your head can be a bad idea.

A bigger problem for men using laptops in their lap is it can possibly sterilize their sperm, not from the EM radiation, but from temperature. Even wearing briefs instead of boxers can reduce fertility in men without any extra heat source except for the normal body temperature, so you can imagine how adding the extra heat from a laptop might have an adverse effect. One thing I have done is to put a book or magazine on my lap and then put the laptop on top of the book, to provide some insulation from the heat.

There was some concern about the safety of the old CRT monitors which are basically high voltage particle accelerators pointed at your face, but the newer flat panel monitors don't have the same risks.

Originally posted by gift0fpr0phecy
Computers don't output radio transmissions (unless they have a wireless network card to utilize wireless internet), so they are not dangerous. Even if they do have a wireless network card the transmissions are not as powerful as cell phone transmissions so they would probably be less harmful (if not completely harmless because you are not holding it to your head).

Most laptops come standard with a wireless network card, but if you don't use it you can turn it off.

My older laptop doesn't have any built-in wireless communication. But I bought 2 cards for it. One is a wireless network card.

The other is a wireless internet card, it uses exactly the same kind of SIM card as my cell phone, operates on the same frequencies, etc. I can use that anywhere I can get a cell phone signal, even if I'm outside the range of any wireless network. So that device would have the same concerns as a cell phone, meaning keep the antenna more than an inch away from your head. At least 10 inches is good.

So, no, computers are not dangerous.

I think we agree on that. Even cell phones probably aren't too dangerous to light and moderate users. The only studies that have shown risk relate to people deemed "heavy users", so if your cell phone is pressed against your head for very long periods of times, not only may you be violating the manufacturer's recommendations on how to use the cell phone, but you might be at risk. Computers don't invite us to press the antenna against our heads, that's one reason they are probably safer.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


Oh yes, I forgot to mention the wireless modem adapters/cards. Those are basically cell phones you can plug into your computer/laptop and would carry the same dangers as cell phones.

I have one here, and right on the device it has an RF warning. In the box it came in there is a piece of paper with a warning sign on it that says to keep the device at least 11 millimeters away from users and bystanders.

And they say hearing aids are safe to wear. Image that!

reply to post by pikypiky
I don't get your point. Is that even on topic? Hearing aids don't have EM transmitters like cell phones and laptop wireless adapters.

And has anyone with any credibility done any scientific study showing hearing aids aren't safe? There have been lots of scientific studies on cell phones.

Originally posted by gift0fpr0phecy
I have one here, and right on the device it has an RF warning. In the box it came in there is a piece of paper with a warning sign on it that says to keep the device at least 11 millimeters away from users and bystanders.

I noticed the New York Times article also mentioned the warnings for Apple and Blackberry phones come on disposale slips of paper packed with the devices. It seems like they want to be able to say they warned you about it, but they don't want the warning to appear in the manual, or on the device where it may make you think twice about using it! So it's interesting you noted the warning on the air card is the same way. Someone suggested that if Apple had a visible warning on the phone to keep it away from your head a certain distance, some people might actually think about that warning and it might affect their usage (possibly reducing it, which Apple doesn't want).

11mm is closer than the other 2 warnings, that's less than 1/2", versus Apple's 5/8" and RIM's ~1".

One other thing I'd comment on, is let's say the laptop air card gives you a tumor in your leg where the antenna is right next to your leg, like people are getting in their brain from the cell phones being right next to their brain.

It's a lot easier to cut a tumor out of your leg, than cut one out of your brain! So I personally take that into account when assessing the risks too.

Actually the dangers of cell phone use is not new. This has been bypassed by those that refuse to give proper warning, I frankly dont care either way, as I try to minimize most electronic use, but for those that are not concerned, keep it up, a person that went to 2nd grade is fully aware that this cannot be good for you, but then again you cant trust them either, as they are also on cell phones.

Peace, NRE.

i'd be more worried if you're combining a lot of these things. just setting yourself up for it.

which we are because it's a part of our daily life. killing us nice and slow lol

The problem is the proximity of their use to the brain as well as the strength of the signals involved.

Because a cell tower is far away, it requires a stronger signal to penetrate the atmosphere than your wireless card on your laptop computer does.

Look at the range of a common laptop vs the range of a cell phone.

A friend of a friend of ours was a highly paid Surgeon who developed a brain tumor and eventually succumbed to it.

He was ALWAYS talking on his cell phone back in the day when people still held them to their ears.

It made us wonder.....