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May/June 2006 Alternative Health
Cordless Phones Danger

European experts speak out

In September 2002, a group of German doctors published a document detailing research on their own patients and a list of demands as an International petition called “The Freiburger Appeal”. They found "...after carefully-directed inquiry - a clear temporal and spatial correlation between the appearance of disease and exposure to pulsed high-frequency microwave radiation (HFMR)..." such as that from phone masts, intensive cell phone use and DECT phones in homes or in the neighbourhood. They linked HMFRs to: "in recent years, a dramatic rise in severe and chronic diseases among our patients" particularly: learning, concentration and behavioural disorders (e.g.ADD), extreme fluctuations in blood pressure (ever harder to influence with medications), heart rhythm disorders, heart attacks and strokes among an increasingly younger population, brain-degenerative diseases (e.g Alzheimer's) and epilepsy, cancerous afflictions (leukaemia, brain tumours) and dramatic increases in less serious conditions. Their demands include an end to further network development, major reductions in emissions levels, a say by local people on the placing of masts, a ban on mobile use by small children and restrictions on use by adolescents.

The use of DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication) cordless phones has been a major health and environmental concern in Europe and especially in Germany for years. The biological concern arose from studies on HF (high frequency) sources such as GSM cellular phones and towers. Digital cordless phones are also available in the USA – marketed as 2.4 GHz digital technology. In a study presented at the 2nd International Workshop on Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields by Thomas Haumann and Peter Sierk, a digital cordless phone was placed in a representative private home in California and HF measurements were conducted at different locations inside, using frequency selective spectrum analysis to obtain the cordless phone power densities. The results showed that the radiation patterns and levels emitted by the small cordless phone base station are almost identical to the DECT technology – also digitally pulsed and permanent microwave radiation. The maximum power density was found to be over 500,000 µW/m2 at a normally encountered distance (about 1 - 2 feet) if the base station is placed on an office desk or bedside table. The radiation peak values in the same room are higher than those encountered in proximity to cellular base stations located near residential buildings.

They concluded that the constant High-Tec HF radiation brought into the US homes and offices by 2.4 GHz digital technology cordless phones is definitely a big step in the wrong direction in terms of environmental health protection and radiation exposure prevention, and reveals a complete misunderstanding of progress for our new millennium.

All modern (DECT) digital cordless phones emit the same type of pulsed microwave radiation, and the base stations emit their radiation even when the phone is not in use as long as they are plugged in. A DECT phone is a mobile phone, and its base is a mobile phone mast in your house or office. DECT pulses are far more aggressive – some say 100 times worse than mobiles, and twice as strong as those found with 100 metres of mobile masts. If you must use one, keep the base unit and remote extra handsets away from where you sleep.

In April 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement saying it will review the health effects of wireless phones after a recent analysis of research by Swedish scientists suggested long-term use may be linked to a risk of brain cancer. The agency said it will hold a meeting to evaluate data on health risks associated with cordless and cell phones but didn't specify a date.