Scaremongering could be a cardinal sin. Sure. But this is a controversy that has raged on for so long.

Despite many claims and counter claims , there is no conclusive position by the guys who should know – The Radiologists, Doctors, etc. Mobile phone manufacturers would flaunt the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) value in your face, claiming their mobile phone’s radiation is well below the prescribed safety limit. I would not even want to talk about the grey market Chinese phones that have nothing on their sales package about this. Patronizing such products could just be similar to playing with one’s health.

There are two issues here – one, the veracity of the figure they put on their package, and two, how much the SAR figure they are touting matters.

My take is this – whenever there is doubt, be on the safe side. We now know smoking is dangerous to your health. A person that has been smoking since his teenage years and lived to a ripe old age may disagree with this assertion.

However, it is better to be safe than to be sorry. Whatever can be done to reduce the radiation level of any electrical or electronic equipment should be encouraged.

It is not mobile phones alone that emit radiation. And it is not just the brain that MAY be affected.

If you use your laptop for extended periods, you could be exposing your gonads to radiation or heat. How about those dirt cheap tablets? Is anybody checking them, since these are also devices designed to be with us almost permanently.

You make use of headsets?. Why – are they not operating on radio frequencies too? Your microwave oven, living under telecommunication masts,  or high tension electricity cables are verifiable sources of radiation. How about those encephalographic X-Rays?

Are you a frequent Flier? What about those scans at Airports? You spend lengthy period in front of a CRT style display unit (Tv, Monitor), etc?

We all respond to irradiative stimuli in different ways. Body constitution, our Medix would tell us. It would seem like commonsense to avoid as many radiation sources as possible. Unfortunately, there are too many sources of potential radiation sources.

A thought – which phones emit more radiation? GSM or CDMA?

The Way Forward

A good place to start would be to minimize calls on our mobile phones (use Instant Messages, sms, e-mail where possible).

To minimize call duration, there are applications on the different mobile_OS platforms that automatically disconnect a call after the specified duration.  For Symbian, there is “Auto HangUp by Igor Dontsov” for Symbian^1 and Symbian^3.

The highest level of radiation is when a call is being initiated. We could also use an app that vibrates the phone when a call connects. This eliminates the need to put the phone to the head when making calls.

We may also make more use of those speakerphones.

What about you? How do you minimize your level of exposure to possible radiation from different devices / sources – particularly mobile?

(* this post was inspired by a recent article by DeolaDoctor *)