New Study Hopes To Discover Cell Phone Side Effects
We've been hearing hints and claims about the health threats of using cell phones since, well, the cell phone was invented. And while tests did prove conclusively that radiation is a byproduct of electronics usage, researchers in London have decided to launch the largest study to date into the potential effects of mobile phone use on long-term health.
The study ambitiously proposes tracking at least a quarter of a million people in five European nations for a span of between 20 and 30 years.
The study, known as the Cohort Study on Mobile Communications (or Cosmos) seeks to examine health developments and look for links between mobile phone use and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's as well as cancer.
Scientists say one of the biggest problems with past experimentation has been the dependence on patients already suffering from disease recalling how much they have used their phones. The Cosmos project will, instead, record actual data from volunteers' phone bills, health records as well as questionnaires to allow researchers to track user behavior in real time.
While the results of the Cosmos study will not be short term, the findings will be quite useful for future generations. Keep in mind that at present cellular phone usage is estimated at 275 million in the U.S. alone and 4 billion worldwide.