Kimberly Kane Weaning Herself Off the Cell

My great pal Kimberly Kane informed me the other day that she is trying to avoid using her cell phone as much as possible, out of concern over the long-circulated theory that they can give you brain cancer. We got on the topic, actually, because I passingly asked her at one point to give me a sec while I got off my Bluetooth (yeah, I converted for the July 1 law) and she incredulously remarked, "You use Bluetooth in your house?!"

She went on to propose to me the conjecture that a Bluetooth headset may actually be worse for you than the cell phone itself, because it goes in your ear and is that much closer to your brain. I hadn't considered this, so I decided to do a little research and find out if, in fact, I may be engaging in the modern day equivalent of smokers in the '50s laughing at the notion that cigarettes were any more dangerous to you than lollipops.

The most conclusive answer I could find to that question was that there has been no conclusion. This is due primarily to the fact that cell phones — and especially Bluetooth headsets — are such a young technology, it is impossible at this point to have evaluated their long-term effects.

This June 6 article from Sci-Tech Today.com said that a) both the American Cancer Society and the FDA have dismissed any connection between cell phones and cancer and b) the radiation emitted by cell phones is "too weak to break chemical bonds or to set off the DNA damage known to cause cancer."

But then I found this awesome diatribe posted July 31 on AnswerBag.com under the topic "Can blue tooth cuase brain cancer?" (<---Copied verbatim--->): "Yes. Save yourselves from the worldwide government conspiracy to create a delayed kill off of large #s of people for the sake of population control. 20 years from now, people will die off in droves. The governments involved believe they will be bringing Mother Earth back into balance. Low power RF injection to the brain is just the ticket."

Maybe KK is on to something ... but I choose to throw caution to the wind and continue my usage of the Bluetooth regardless, for it is cool.