A Brooklyn man recently discovered that his ringing cell phone turns on his oven.

 

The New York Times reported how the oven turned on inexplicably, and started fires. Then, he sleuthed the cause to his cellular phone.

 

A number of studies recently have hinted that on some level, cell phones have impacts we cannot fathom. I find myself discomforted by the buzz buzz/clicking interference noises that cell phones exert over radio and computer speakers.

 

Cellular phones emit radiofrequency energy. This low-frequency, non-ionizing RF energy is a form of electromagnetic radiation, of a different class than x-rays, which are high-frequency and ionizing, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

 

Furthermore, the National Cancer Institute says that "Studies have not shown any consistent link between cellular telephone use and cancer, but scientists feel that additional research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn."

 

Scientists are studying to see if cell phones cause tumors. Now suppose for a minute that some scientists prove that radio waves emanating from cell phones cause tumors.

 

There have already been preliminary studies – funded by the industry more than a decade ago - suggesting a link between cell phone radio waves and cancer.

 

Imagine that beyond reasonable doubt, researchers independently verify in peer-reviewed laboratory studies that talking on a cell phone for an average of two hours a day, five days a week, during the course of 15 years, will cause fatal cancer, be it brain, testicular, ovarian or eye cancer.

 

What are the chances that this information will ever reach the general public? It seems like we have been down this road before.

 

How long did the cigarette companies hide the fact that nicotine is highly addictive and that chemicals in tobacco cause cancer? How long have we been fighting the global warming battle?

 

For how many years have the oil and fossil fuel industries greenwashed climate change science, and given us junk information and researchers with spurious studies to refute the concept that human activity is changing the planet for the worse?

 

At the end of 2007, more than 3.3 billion people had used cell phones, which is about a 49 percent market penetration rate. That means one out of every two humans do not use cell phones.

 

Another researcher projects that by 2013, the telecommunications industry will reap more than $2.7 trillion in revenue globally, annually.

 

Comparatively, the United States spent about $1 trillion on fossil fuels and energy in 2008.

 

Considering that the United States uses about 25 percent of the world's energy resources, let’s say that all energy consumption costs about $4 trillion annually for the 7 billion people on the planet.

 

Cell phones, then, represent a pretty serious industry, especially when we consider that a major player like the global arms trade is worth only about $50 billion annually, according to a recent New York Times story.

 

So cell phone companies wield considerable economic might across the planet. Citizens of the Earth, living under all types of governments and climates, enjoy the use of cell phones.

 

Now suppose that an unsettling fact – like that cell phones are as dangerous to human health as cigarettes – emerges. Suppose we learn that children in particular are most vulnerable to the radiation that cell phones emit?

 

Humanity will face a massive choice, and it is unlikely that the information we need to make this choice will be accurate. It is likely that the global cell phone industry – dominated by international corporate giants – would attempt to convince 4 billion people using cell phones that they are safe, despite the science proving otherwise.

 

We have seen this fight before, as I said, with cigarettes and global warming. A swarm of lobbyists would descend on our already weak-kneed Congress, trying to write legislation granting retroactive immunity from class action lawsuits like Cheney did with asbestos producers.

 

The information warfare on consumers from telecom corporate boardrooms would intensify, trying to discredit the science. Research would attempt to convince you not to alter your cell phone habits.

 

Opposition, fringe elements – environmentalists and health care activists –would challenge you to plan in advance, to run your day without a cell phone. Perhaps they might even be investigated as terrorists.

 

But in our instant information culture of must do it now addicts, can we live without cell phones? 4 billion of us? Other researchers will try to make cell phones safe.

 

Would billions of people decide to risk an early death for the convenience of instant communication? It seems likely that we would make the same choice we do for the automobile based transportation system – the sacrifice of thousands of lives annually for convenient interpersonal contact.

 

And then other corporations that demand 24-hour contact with employees would fight to keep a toxic communication leash around their workers. The pattern of corporate dominance of our lives is so familiar, and recognizable, and seemingly unstoppable.

 

Yet it seems unlikely that the human species would abandon this technology, or revert to landlines. Perhaps another technology would replace it.

 

Hopefully this scenario never occurs, but we must not give telecommunications companies the benefit of the doubt, and we must remain skeptical, and most importantly, we must work on ways to eliminate the ability of corporations to run our lives.

 

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