next sunday's roast: pick your brain

Microwaves dominating our lives:

Admitted, it is no fun to read this report on microwaves and cell phones, mobiles; however, it is an interesting summary of what we should be much more aware of and what we (all?) feared to be(-come) reality for many, many years.

I have picked up on the subject before and had/have to go through all kind of responses like the funny smile or the always aggressive "What do you know!?" from school bus drivers to headteachers and fellow parents that all either love to play with the gadget - the "emergency argument" to "must have one" proves to be the smaller 0.1% exception - or need it as an important element of demonstrating their Zeitgeist understanding and membership or to simply boost their suffering image and that of their ward/family members.

And in my own family? The arguments like "but the others..." or "It can't be that bad..." are dominating and often scotching any discussion; so - as usual - what is left is the vague hope that statistics will hit the others.

The public should know if they are taking a risk with cell phones. What we're doing is a grand world experiment without informed consent."

If all this sounds like some abandoned X-Files script, consider the history of suppression of evidence in the major issues of consumer health over the past half century. Big Tobacco hid the dangers of smoking and the addictiveness of nicotine, supporting its position with countless deceptive studies. Asbestos manufacturers hid evidence that the mineral was dangerous even as tens of thousands of workers died from exposure; the makers of DDT and Agent Orange stood behind their products even as it became clear that the herbicides caused cancer. That the cell-phone industry, which last year posted revenues in the hundreds of billions of dollars, has an incentive to shut down research showing the dangers of cell-phone use is not a radical notion.

It is very worthwhile to read; good luck with taking consequences.

Carpe diem!