Cell Phone Safety
Ninety-five out of every 100 U.S. adults now owns a cell phone; globally, three out of four adults have cell phone access with sales increasing every year. The widespread use of cell phones merits close attention due to a recent study on the safety of cell phones.
Wireless radiation has been shown to damage the blood-brain barrier, a vital defense mechanism that shields the brain from carcinogenic chemicals elsewhere in the body (resulting, for example, from secondhand cigarette smoke). The study found that the heaviest cell phone users were 80 percent more likely to develop glioma. Even phones meeting government standards, which in Europe were a SAR of 2.0 watts per kilogram, could deliver exponentially higher peak radiation levels to certain skin and blood cells (SAR levels reached a staggering 40 watts per kilogram -- 20 times higher than officially permitted).
The results reported by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) in 2016 seem to strengthen the case for increasing the assessment of cell phone radiation to a "probable" or even a "known" carcinogen. Besides the NTP finding, 90 percent of the 200 existing studies included in the National Institutes of Health's PubMed database on the oxidative effects of wireless radiation -- its tendency to cause cells to shed electrons, which can lead to cancer and other diseases -- have found a significant impact. [1]
Alcohol and Cancer
Alcohol causes at least seven types of cancer, but it kills more women from breast cancer than from any other cause. The National Cancer Institute says alcohol raises breast cancer risk even at low levels. The median diagnosis in the United States is at age 62, and the highest breast cancer rates are found in women older than 70. In Utah, Mormon women's breast cancer rates are more than 24 percent lower than rates of colon cancer, which alcohol can also cause.
Alcohol is suspected of inflicting a double whammy on breast tissue because it also increases the level of estrogen in a woman's body. High levels of estrogen prompt faster cell division in the breast, which can lead to mutations and ultimately tumors. Researchers estimate that alcohol accounts for 15 percent of U.S. breast cancer cases and deaths -- about 35,000 and 6,600 a year, respectively. The breast cancer risk from alcohol isn't nearly as high as the lung cancer risk from smoking. But alcohol-related breast cancer kills more than twice as many American women as drunk drivers do. Alcohol is responsible for the deaths of nearly 90,000 Americans every year, more than double the estimated 40,000 U.S. opioid deaths in 2015.
Ninety percent of alcohol consumption by underage Americans is binge drinking, defined as four or more drinks on one occasion, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For more than a decade, the alcohol industry has bulldozed long-standing public health regulations designed to reduce harmful consumption. While other countries are considering World Health Organization recommendations to impose steeper alcohol taxes, the tax law President Trump signed in December 2017, further slashed U.S. alcohol excise taxes, which, thanks to inflation, were already down as much as 80 percent since the 1950s. [2]
ADDENDUMS:
*President Trump supports the National Football League's decision to fine teams whose players kneel in protest during the national anthem. "You have to stand proudly, for the national anthem. Otherwise, you shouldn't be playing, you shouldn't be there. Maybe you shouldn't be in the country. "
*Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the Trump administration will impose severe economic sanctions on Iran unless it meets a dozen U.S. requirements.
Footnotes
[1] Mark Hertsgaard and Mark Dowie, "How Big Wireless Made Us Think That Cell Phones Are Safe," "The Nation," April 23, 2018.
[2] Stephanie Mencimer, "Bottled Up," "Mother Jones," May + June 2018.
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