Mobile Phone Safety

Mobile phones have now become a necessity rather than a comfort or a luxury. They are no more just a business tool, and have now become one of the major sources of communication. There are over 51000 base stations of mobile phones in the UK. The transmitters or masts which make the use of radio waves to commune with mobile phones are the Base Stations. These base stations are enclosed within electromagnetic fields. Radio waves refer to the waves of low energy radiation that transfer on a mobile phone through the antenna. They transmit first to the base station and once more back again.

Safety Concerns

The health insinuations of using mobile phones and base stations were studied and discovered by the IEGMP, by Sir William Stewart and group, in May 2000. The research resulted as:
The proximity of the base stations does not cause any risk to the health conditions of the people residing nearby as the radiations exposed small part of the existing guidelines
Radio waves may lead to a change in the activities of the brain, the reason for which is unknown yet
It is advised to use mobile phones to a limited extent.

Mobile phone safety was brought to the notice of the general public by the Department of transport, DTLR. They implicated the rules of not using a handheld mobile phone while driving, which is now against the law.
Risks of using mobile phones
The various risks involved in using mobile phone handsets have been detailed below.
Radio waves and body absorption: While using a mobile phone, some of the radiations received are directed towards the body, which when absorbed by the body tissues in the form of energy, increase the body metabolism’s energy, raising the body temperature, especially in the head area.

Risks to children

children’s health is highly prone to get afflicted by the use of mobiles.
Research and evidence: when experts studied the risks of using mobile phones, they verified that conditions such as electrical hypersensitivity and cancers of the nervous system and brain could take place. However, the base stations do not cause any harm to the people living in the proximity.
Using mobile phones while driving: the use of mobile phone handsets while driving increases the risks of accidents.
Hospital equipments and Mobile phones: make sure to check the rules of the hospital before using your phone in the premises. The use of mobile phone handsets tends to disturb the patients, who might even confuse it with hospital alarms. Mobile phone radiations affect some medical apparatus, like the monitors.

Recommendations

Exposure towards radio waves can be minimized in the following ways:

• Use the phone to make only short calls, avoiding unnecessary usage.
• Keep mobiles away from children
• Get to know the SAR (specific absorption rate) of a mobile handset, before buying it. SAR refers to the amount of radiations that the body absorbs, which is different in the case of different mobile phones. This information is readily available at all mobile stores.
• When in the standby mode, keep the mobile phone away from your body.
• Use the phone only when the strength of reception is high.
• Try using a phone with an external antenna, which puts away the radio waves.
• A few recommendations from the transport department are:
• Try not to use hands free devices
• Switch off your mobile phone while driving. If there is needs to use your phone, stop in the side, finish your conversation and then start driving again.