Rick Nelson

Are you electrosensitive?
January 25, 2008

Arguments about the health effects of nonionizing radiation will never abate. Now there is a new study that says using a mobile phone before going to bed can disturb your sleep. From the BBC: “The study, funded by mobile phone companies, suggests radiation from the handset can cause insomnia, headaches, and confusion. It may also cut our amount of deep sleep—interfering with the body's ability to refresh itself. Funded by the Mobile Manufacturers Forum, the scientists studied 35 men and 36 women aged between 18 and 45.”

The BBC quotes researcher Professor Bengt Arnetz as saying, "The study strongly suggests that mobile phone use is associated with specific changes in the areas of the brain responsible for activating and coordinating the stress system."

The BBC reports that “half the people in the study believed themselves to be ‘electrosensitive,’ reporting symptoms such as headaches and impaired cognitive function from mobile phone use. But they proved to be unable to tell if they had been exposed to the radiation in the test.”

This sounds like a pretty shaky result to me. The BBC article doesn’t provide many details on how the study was conducted, but from what it does say, it seems that 50% of the participants reported electrosensitive responses whether or not they were subjected to the 884-MHz wireless test signals. That is, 50% reported no problems, whether or not they were subjected to the signals, 25% who were subjected to the signals reported electrosensitive responses, and 25% who were not subjected to the signals reported symptoms anyway.

This study seems to demonstrate exactly nothing but will give the tinfoil hat crowd something to worry about.

Posted by Rick Nelson on January 25, 2008 | Comments (1)