Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Ottawa, ON (Rogers)
Posts: 184
a) Why does a 9 to 11 year old need a cell phone?
b) Where is this growing body of evidence? Seems to me like it is erring on the side of caution with no evidence available, which is an entirely different issue. If something was bad, it would be worse for children of course. But unlike smoking, cell phones don't fill your brain with tar and toxic chemicals that lead to cancer 40 years later.
You are receiving far more non-ionizing radiation from your microwave. That's a 1kW+ transmitter right in your home, and there's not even any shielding execpt on the front! A digital cell phone is typical 1-2 watts or less. Older analog phones are 3-4 watts. The effect this has on your brain bucket is far less than being out in the sunlight.
Finally, no one can say for sure because no one has looked at heavy cell phone use for more than about 10 years. But I'll go back to my point (a) above. Why would a 9 to 11 year old be using a cell phone for hours a day? (because even if there is some effect, you're not going to get it from using a phone once a week for 5 minutes when the kid is at a friends house).