Help with Cell Phone Tower questions

[jlc95010]

I am thinking about buying a great house, however there is a cell phone tower less than 500 ft. away. I know everybody says there is nothing to worry about, but I have found some articles on the internet that do show some adverse health effects living so close to a cell phone tower. Could someone let me know if I should heed these studies that show adverse health effects or is it just bad science.

please copy the information below into google and let me know.

Wolf R, Wolf D. Increased incidence of cancer near a cell-phone
transmitter station. Int J Cancer Prevention 2004;1:123-128

http://www.livingplanet.be/epidemiological.pdf

http://www.scribd.com/doc/46057115/Why-Cell-Phone-Towers-Are-So-Bad-for-Your-Health

 

[cjl]

It's completely safe. Nothing at all to worry about.

 

[KingNothing]

There are health implications of electromagnetic radiation being absorbed by the human body. Cell phone towers (at 500 ft) are not even remotely as damaging in this regard as holding your cell phone next to your head is.

 

[DaleSwanson]

It's safe. It's really quite easy to do the math to prove it to yourself. Here is a thread that contains all the info you need to do the calculations:
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=461180
A common number given for the power output of a cellphone tower is 100 watts. So the tower is about as dangerous as a 100 watt light bulb at 500 feet.

Generally, the higher frequency electromagnetic radiation (aka light) is, then the more dangerous it is. The order from lowest frequency to highest is:
Radio<Microwaves<Infrared<Visible light<UV<X-ray<Gamma rays
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Electromagnetic-Spectrum.png
Note that radio and microwaves (which is what communication devices use) are lower than ordinary visible light.

 

[jlc95010]

But how do you explain the increased incidents of cancer shown in these studies?

 

[boneh3ad]

But how do you explain the increased incidents of cancer shown in these studies?

Bad studies. These are a couple people who found a correlation incorrectly. There are tons of other papers claiming the opposite.

 

[skeptic2]

There are health implications of electromagnetic radiation being absorbed by the human body. Cell phone towers (at 500 ft) are not even remotely as damaging in this regard as holding your cell phone next to your head is.

I would reword that to say the the towers signal is not remotely as strong as the signal from your cell phone next to your head but more importantly nearby cell phone towers actually reduce your radiation exposure while using your cell phone. Your cell phone's power is considerably reduced if it is receiving a strong signal from a cell phone tower.

 

[sophiecentaur]

I've said this before and I'll say it again. How come that people never complained about radiation from TV transmitters in the same way they complain about cell phone transmitters? Answer: Because, in the days that TV was new and everyone wanted one, people had more sense and it wasn't fashionable to get involved with scares.
The frequencies of UHF TV and Cellphone transmissions are not too different and the power laid down by Main TV transmitters is often much higher (despite beam-tailoring) than that from cell transmitters.

 

[Q_Goest]

Regardless of the real safety implications, when buying a house, the perception of a potential safety hazard is enough to reduce the value of the home.

 

[skeptic2]

But how do you explain the increased incidents of cancer shown in these studies?

From Medscape: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/540146_3
In order to view this article you must register but there is no charge.

Note that until cell phones became popular brain cancer rates were rising. As cell phone use increased brain cancer rates began to fall. They fell in urban areas despite rising in rural areas and they fell more among young people than among older people, just the opposite of what you would expect if cell phone radiation caused cancer. I am not suggesting however, that cell phones reduce the risk of brain cancer.Brain Cancer Trends

The age-adjusted incidence rates of brain cancer by the year of diagnosis from 1973 to 2001 are demonstrated in Fig. 3. With Joinpoint regression analysis, two distinct trends were observed for this period. The incidence of brain cancer increased from 1973 to 1987 (APC 1.68%; 95% CI 1.22–2.13), followed by a decline thereafter (APC –0.44%; 95% CI –0.84 to –0.03). The results of Join-point regression analyses of brain cancer trends by age, sex, race, and rurality are summarized in Table 1 . The incidence rates of brain cancer decreased among men and women after the years 1986 and 1987, respectively. Although the decline was statistically significant among the women, it did not reach significant levels among the men. Analysis by age revealed that the elderly had the steepest rise in incidence rates until 1985, and the rates have been stable since then. The incidence rates among young adults show a statistically significant decline after 1987. Currently, Caucasians and African-Americans are experiencing falling and rising trends, respectively, both of which are not statistically significant. Although the annual incidence rates are declining in metropolitan counties, they are on the rise in nonmetropolitan counties. Histological diagnoses that have demonstrated rising trends are GBM, oligodendroglioma, anaplastic astrocytoma, medulloblastoma, and mixed glioma; those with falling trends are astrocytoma NOS and malignant glioma (Figs. 4 and 5). Time-trend analysis of GBM revealed that its incidence declined until 1979 (APC –5.58%; 95% CI –8.91 to –2.12), followed by a significant rise until 1991 (APC 2.88%; 95% CI 1.47–4.30; Fig. 4). After 1991, there has been a gradual rising trend that has not reached statistical significance (APC 0.321%; 95% CI –1.00 to 1.66).