The California and Connecticut Departments of Public Health released safety guidelines for using cell phones. Of particular concern is the use of cell phones by children and teens.
In a nutshell, keep your cell phone away from your body as much as possible.
Why?Â
California Department of Public Health
These risks have not been proven, but there is enough information accumulated to date to be a cause for serious concern.
What Should You Do?
Here are a few suggestions from the guidelines linked below.
When you talk on a cell phone do not hold it up to your head. Use the speakerphone or earphones.
Send text messages instead of calling.
When you do call, make your calls shorter.
If you are at your desk, or watching TV at home, or in bed, or anywhere else where it is possible, put your cell phone a few feet away from you.
Don’t carry your cell phone in your pocket. Keep it in a purse, briefcase, or backpack.
Don’t use it when the signal strength is only one or two bars. When the incoming signal is weak the phone puts out more harmful radiation. It is also best to turn it off when you are in a moving vehicle because the phone puts out more radiation when it is searching for ever changing signal towers.
Do not buy a radiation shield. That actually intensifies the radiation.
The California Guidelines linked below have links to additional information.
The Connecticut Department of Public Health released similar guidelines in 2015.
Be sure to read what the Connecticut and California guidelines say about cell phone use by children and teens.
My cell phone pretty much used to live in my shirt pocket most of the day, making it handy to grab. After reading the guidelines linked below I am going to err on the side of caution. (Better safe than sorry.) Instead of in my shirt pocket, my cell phone is now sitting on the far corner of my desk. I usually have a small backpack with me when I am out and about so my phone now goes in my backpack.
Links
Article announcing the California guidelines:Â CDPH Issues Guidelines on How to Reduce Exposure to Radio Frequency Energy from Cell Phones