it may not be the one exposure. we are born with repair processes. we get damage to our dna every day by breathing, sunlight and whatnot. if we eat well and exercise and don t have too much exposure, that damage gets repaired. for cell phone radiation, young people today are growing up in a sea of radio frequency radiation that didn t exist even five years ago. we ve been surrounded by radiation for a long time. you re saying this new radiation has changed the amount that we re exposed to? by billions and billions and billions of times. the amount of radio frequency radiation today is billions and billions of times greater than occurred at the big bang with which we evolved human life. i don t think all make waive radiation is necessarily problematic, and i recognize that microwaves play a very important role in many aspects of modern life. but i think direct microwave radiation of the brain and that s why all of the fine print
what surprised me is voices urging caution are not only getting louder, but they re getting more prominent. all right. i m on my way. if you ve ever put a cell phone to your ear, you should listen to what neurosurgeon dr. keith black has to say. there s no way to say that cell phone use is safe. i think the public has a right to know there could be a potential risk. the public generally assumes that if one is selling something on the market, that we have had assurances that that device is safe. to be clear, dr. black s message is at odds with headlines from the largest international study on cell phones and cancer. their conclusion, little or no evidence cell phones are associated with brain tumors. if you look just one layer deeper into the appendix of that same study, you ll see something unsettling. turns out participants in the study who use a cell phone for ten years or more had double the rate of a type of tumor. keep in mind cell phone use in the united states
we are born with repair processes. we get damage to our dna every day by breathing, sunlight and what not. if we eat well and exercise and don t have too much exposure, that damage gets repaired. for cell phone radiation, young people today are growing up in a sea of radio frequency radiation that didn t exist even five years ago. we ve been surrounded by radiation for a long time. you re saying this new radiation has changed the amount that we re exposed to? by billions and billions and billions of times. the amount of radio frequency radiation today is billions and billions of times greater than occurred at the big bang with which we evolved museum lihuman. i recognize that microwaves play an important role in many aspects of modern life. i think direct microwave radiation of the brain and that s why all of the fine print warnings advise don t hold the phone directly on the body.
when you put it like that, it seems to make sense that we certainly just don t know, enough time has not passed to be able to say anything definitive. the jury seems to be pretty clear on this. i don t think the jury is clear in other nations right now. i think the nature is to do with the old-fashioned issue. the cell phone industry has been very, very powerful and is very influential on both sides of the aisle. all of us, including me, don t want to give up our phones. over ten years, the effect of using a phone, would you describe it as a cumulative problem? are you a accumulating the problems in your brain? it is a cumulative problem. as we know what happens with many things that can cause cancer, it may not be the one exposure. look, we are born with repair processes. we get damage to our dna by breathing, sunlight and whatnot. if we eat well and exercise and don t get too much exposure, that damage gets repaired. for cell phone radiation, young
paraplegics. this guy could stand up again. this is when an accident paralyzed five years ago and doctors said he would never walk again. a medical team implanted an electric stimulator and within months he was taking assisted steps on a treadmill. i ll be back at the top of the hour with more live news here. i m dr. sanjay gupta. welcome to the show. today i m taking a closer look at something that s become so closely woven into our lives it s hard to imagine what we would do without it. i m talking about our cell phones. most of us take it for granted that they re safe and that may be the case. but i ve also spent the last several months investigating and talking with people who say don t be so sure. some of you may already be rolling your eyes. i understand that. i want you to stick with me this half hour. we ve been digging a little deeper to try to get a more definitive answer. i will tell you this, it wasn t easy. what surprised me is voices urging caution are not onl