The notion that cell phone use could be dangerous to my long-term health was first brought to my attention by my mother almost three years ago.

Ever since, I have kept a keen eye on cell phone radiation news and research studies to try to find an answer to the question, does cell phone radiation matter?

I believe that there is an answer to the question. Research studies might be \’inconclusive\’, but that\’s a popular scientific term that typically replaces the fact that the studies didn\’t produce a desirable result. It also seems inconceivable that the trillion dollar cell phone industry and governments worldwide could have pushed this technology without ever having conclusive research results proving the safety of cell phones. Unfortunately for consumers, that is exactly the reality.

The wireless industry is smarter than we are. As consumers, we have to understand that corporations know more about their products than we do. As Noam Chomsky (MIT) has repeatedly lectured, corporations don\’t want educated consumers, they want misinformed consumers that are addicted to the products or want the products for the wrong reasons. The fact that the wireless industry knows things about radiation that we don\’t is disturbing, just as the nicotine industry knew that cigarettes caused negative health effects before the public knew.

Not only is this incredibly frustrating, but it\’s the biggest question mark that rests on this issue. Since we don\’t know what the industry thinks of radiation, what do scientists think?

The work of Dr. Lennart Hardell in Sweden should make cell phone users view this issue seriously. Swedes who have used cell phones the most and for the longest times have more malignant brain tumors than others. After a decade of use the risk of brain tumors is doubled. Similar results were found by scientists in Israel, Finland, Russia and England. Hardell has also found that teenagers using cell phones end up after a decade with four times more brain cancer cases.

Now, it is true that cell phone radiation is a fraction of the radiation produced by a single microwave. However, distinguished research scientist Dariusz Leszczynski said about his book: “we clearly showed that radiation from a phone had a biological impact. After this work, which in fact repeated that of many others…the world could no longer pretend that the only problems with cell phones occurred after you could measure a change in temperature. This view was always mistaken, of course, and our work showed that.” In other words, much lower power than in microwave ovens does not translate into an absence of effects from radiation on our bodies.

I have made the case on issues such as net neutrality that a stronger FCC and less corrupt regulatory regime could actually work on behalf of the people\’s safety and get real research results that may end up devastating cell phone usage. Is that a risk that the government is willing to take? It\’s highly unlikely that with corporate interests and wireless lobbyists influencing Congress and running the FCC, the necessary steps will be taken to get more facts on an uncertain health risk.

Cell phone radiation matters, not because we know it\’s dangerous, but because we don\’t know that it isn\’t dangerous. Try choosing a smartphone keeping its emission levels in mind. Do yourself a favor and use speakerphone, don\’t hold the phone up to your head. Acknowledge that your common sense tells you to care about radiation hazards and minimize your mobile use.