Why We Don't Need Any More Studies
Telling Us Cell Phone Signals Are Safe

    It is well known that standard cell phones spew electromagnetic radiation in every direction. When you hold a Blackberry or iPhone up to your ear, some of that radiation goes right through your skull. No wonder people are afraid!
     Fortunately, there is a type of cell phone that emits nothing but pure light. I use one of these models every day. In fact, I have for more than a decade now, without any sign of brain cancer whatsoever.
     If you'd like to get your hands on one of these phones, just reach into your pocket or pocketbook and pull out the phone you have now. Here's the good news: it's identical to mine. All cell phones operate by emiting light. It's just not visible.
     Here now is the shocking secret that charlatans don't want you to know! "Electromagnetic radiation" is a fancy way of saying "light." Some of it has long wavelengths and low energy (per photon). Some of it has short wavelengths and high energy. Visible light falls roughly in the middle. Our eyes have evolved to be sensitive to these frequencies because they bounce off of surrounding objects and therefore carry useful information.
    Really high-energy light bulls its way through objects, and so would not be useful for imaging. Of course, we do use X-rays to produce images of our insides, but you have to go to medical school for years to be able to interpret one. Besides, we'd probably need to have heavy-metal retinas to capture the photons from x-rays. Think how exhausting it would be to roll your eyes with lead in them!
    Radio waves, on the other hand are so long in wavelength that they tend to snake around objects. Some of them will bounce off, but they produce very fuzzy images. If you've ever looked at a radar screen, you get the idea. Blips are about the best you can expect.
    As it happens, the frequencies used by cell phones are less energetic than visible light. They fall into the radio end of the spectrum. That's why you can be indoors and still connect with a cell tower. The waves just wiggle their way through the walls.

 (From Wikipedia)

    The key point is this: if visible light doesn't give you cancer -- and it does not -- cell phone light sure won't either. It's far less energetic. Think of it like this:  If I shoot you with a bullet from a gun, it is highly likely to cause severe damage. But if I hold a bullet in my fingertips and tap you with it, no harm is apt to result. Same object, different energies.
     That's the difference between the damage inflicted by UV photons on the beach that slam into your cells, chipping off bits of DNA , and the harmless transit of radiowave photons that sail on by with barely a tip of the hat. The real problem here is not radiation, or even semantics, but the cloud of fearful ignorance that engulfs the American people.
    We shrink in terror from things that are reasonably safe -- cell phones, air travel, vaccines -- and lope along in blissful disregard of things that pose a real threat -- global warming, overpopulation, and Faux News, to name a few.
   The remedy is much simpler than finding a cure for cancer: basic scientific literacy is all it takes. I contend that just about anyone who can learn to operate a cell phone can grasp the physical principles by which it operates. It's just that the former is a social imperative -- who wants to admit that they are stumped by their new Droid? -- while the knowing the latter just gets you tarred as a nerd.
   But there's a reason "nerds" are resented. Being smart pays. Not IQ smart necessarily, but well informed and fully equipped with the mental tools to tell probable truth from a pile of steaming yak dung. (There are plenty of people with high IQs who spend their lives neck-deep in yak dung. Rush comes to mind.)
   In the formative past, the ability to discern reliable patterns in nature from mirages and myths had survival value. Today, the same faculties can make you rich and happy. So make that next call to the science homework helpline. Or better yet, keep reading this blog.

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