This isn't something the media had given coverage to for a while, until today. In my local paper, the all-knowing
Hull Daily Mail.
It seems that there has been a bit of an uproar over the placement of mobile phone masts around my county. Similar things are happening nationwide, and quite often people mention that they've heard mobile phones give you brain cancer. This statement is usually accompanied by much head-shaking and tutting. However, it seems that when asked for evidence to back up their claim, they can provide none. Let me explain.
The "radiation" emitted by mobile phones is your standard radio wave. It's the sort of wave emitted by so many other household objects, and so many other objects that are experienced day-in, day-out by the amateur radio enthusiast. You can't imagine how big these people like their radio transmitters. My dad has been an amateur radio enthusiast for years. I don't see him with brain cancer. Science also tells us that radio waves have absolutely no effect on the human condition apart from - in very, very large quantities - a small heating effect.
"But," I hear the techno-phobe cry, "It hasn't been proven they won't harm you!". Sure it hasn't been "proven". How do you "prove" something like that? You can take a lot of empirical evidence, but can you call it really "proved"? No. In the same way you can't "prove" that drinking clean water won't kill you - I mean, shit, maybe some of it will contain some chemical previously unknown and undetectable to man! Disastrous! Stop drinking water!
No. We have to rely on the empirical evidence we have, from decades of radio use. This evidence shows that these waves have never harmed anyone - and they're unlikely to start soon.
Some people then, at this point, begin to talk about the amount of radiation that different handsets put into your head, and the fact children's skulls are thinner. This is of zero consequence, because the radiation just plain doesn't harm you.