With advancing technology and the increasing need for convenience, cellular phone use has steadily risen in the past decade. However, recent research points to potential health risks associated with using the pocket-sized phones.
Most significantly, using wireless phones may impair driving safety. In 1997, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that a driver using a cell phone is four times as likely to have a collision than one who is not. This is roughly the same risk as driving intoxicated.
"The main problem is that of distraction when using a cell phone while driving," said Stephanie Faul, Communications Director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. "Not observing the road ahead of you at all times is a huge factor [in car accidents]."
Out of all the possible cell-phone related distractions, Faul said that increased levels of concentration in a discussion while on the cell phone most significantly lowers driving performance.
Cell phones have also been reported to distract older people more than younger drivers. Recent studies conducted in Finland found that braking reaction times are delayed by as much as half a second because of cell phone use.
However, various surveys have ranked talking and driving below other distracting activities including changing a cassette or CD, reading a map or even dealing with noisy children or unrestrained pets.
Faul also noted that there are clear benefits of having a cell phone in an emergency situation.
"People often overlook the fact that cell phones have very important safety functions," she said.
Although the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is uncertain if there is a direct correlation associated between cell phone use and driving impairment, officials stress that the behavior is a contributing factor to the mounting distractions that drivers have to deal with.
Faul suggests certain precautions drivers should take to ensure their safety.
"For some basic rules, try to keep conversation light, limit the conversation length, don't be afraid to hang up the phone and allow plenty of following distance." She also suggests using cell phones sparingly and in uncongested areas where traffic patterns will not change rapidly.
Another health risk that may be associated with cell phone use is exposure to radiation released from the phones. Since they are powered by electricity, they give off electric and magnetic fields, or EMF, which emit a non-ionizing form of radiation. This type of radiation, which is similarly emitted by microwaves and computers, does not have enough energy to split atoms into harmful electrically-charged particles, and is given off in both low doses and low levels. Particularly high doses can increase one's risk of cancer, birth defects and genetic defects.
Concern over these effects arose last year when the Medical Journal of Australia speculated that a 50 percent increase in brain tumors is due to cell phone use. The World Health Organization also found that mice exposed to about 18 months of low-level radio waves similar to those emitted from wireless phones were twice as likely to develop cancer.
However, not enough conclusive research has been done to prove a direct link.
"Overall, the existing evidence for a relationship between radiation from cell phones and cancer is found to be weak to nonexistent," said Dr. John Moulder, a radiation oncologist at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
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