By Dee Giles
Many students take advantage of cellular phones, but there is some concern that microwave radiation from the phones can cause cancer.
The debate continues to rage over the validity of studies claiming that cell phones can cause brain tumors as a result of the waves.
Now some companies have developed and have begun marketing products designed to protect cell phone users from these potential dangers.
Calgon Carbon Corp. has developed a product called WaveZorb that reduces the risk of the potentially harmful microwaves.
Bob McLaughlin, Calgon’s Director of Sales and Marketing for Consumer Health, said WaveZorb absorbs up to 99 percent of the waves that directly hit it.
McLaughlin said the product is a piece of cloth that goes over the ear piece, blocking the waves that would otherwise go directly into the ear canal.
McLaughlin said the ear is one of the most vulnerable areas, according to studies, because the skull offers no protection from the waves.
Jeff Horton, 23, a junior from Corona, Calif., majoring in Marriage, Family and Human Development, doesn’t buy the potential of cell phones causing cancer.
“From what I’ve heard, there’s a study done, but others have tried to replicate it and … haven’t been able to. I don’t think there’s enough evidence to prove it,” Horton said.
Horton believes that students are tired of all the research that seems to point to everything causing cancer.
“They say everything causes cancer, and we’re sick of that. It’s like they’re crying wolf,” Horton said.
Kristin Izant, 23, from Marietta, Ga, said the mere fact there is speculation about cell phones causing cancer justifies this new technology.
“Although there hasn’t been any concrete research to prove it, there has been speculation, so any improvements to cell phones that would protect would be a step in the right direction.”
Andrew Sawyer, 24, from Fairfield, Calif., majoring in sociology isn’t concerned with the mere possibility that cell phones may cause cancer.
“I don’t use mine enough to worry about it,” Sawyer said. “If they were proven to cause cancer, I would stop using my cell phone.”
As long as this debate remains unsettled, cell phone users will have to decide, individually, if these products would be worthwhile or a waste of their resources.
