介绍:
[38.Cell-phone Emissions can Change Brain Activity]
So many people use the cell phone so frequently every day.
But surprisingly little is certain about the health effects of its use.
Manufacturers maintain
that cell phones meet government standards
for safe radio-frequency radiation emission,
but enough studies are beginning to document a possible increase
in rare brain tumors,
headaches and behavioral disorders in children to cause concern.
So far, the evidence isn't conclusive
on whether the use of cell phones contributes
to any increased risk of cancer.
In a new trial,
researchers asked 47 volunteers to participate in a project
to measure glucose consumption in the brain
by scanning the brain to see how cells use energy.
For both 50-minute scans,
the volunteers had a cell phone fixed to each ear.
During the first scan,
the devices were turned off,
but for the second scan,
the phone on the right ear was switched on
and received a recorded-message call,
although the volume was muted
so the noise wouldn't bias the results.
The results of the second scan showed
that the regions of the brain nearest to the device
had higher rates of glucose consumption than the rest of the brain.
The study shows that cell phones can change brain activity,
and provides a whole new avenue for scientific inquiry,
though it doesn't say anything
about whether cell-phone radiation can cause cancer.
