Electric Shavers Rot Your Brain 709
Damek writes "According to UW researchers, prolonged exposure to low-level magnetic fields, similar to those emitted by such common household devices as blow dryers, electric blankets and razors, can damage brain cell DNA. The damage appears to be cumulative, so you'd best get rid of your electric razors & blankets ASAP! The full study is available online now. No word yet for Cell Phone users' brains..."
Umm... (Score:5, Interesting)
Minor nit to pick... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd say that apoptosis is better characterized as "natural cell death". It's a natural and essential part of the cell's life cycle, and certainly isn't as alarming as the article's tone suggests.
In fact, we have a word for cells that don't undergo apoptosis: Cancer.
Radiation from Monitors (Score:5, Interesting)
Headphones (Score:5, Interesting)
uggg...
Low (?) level magnetic fields (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:This is ridiculous! (Score:2, Interesting)
What about speakers? (Score:2, Interesting)
Protection and remedies - (Score:2, Interesting)
Also, let us note that when the article discusses 'apoptosis' (which, indeed, may be called natural cell death - where a cell simply stops living and breaks down its DNA in response to some trigger), it points out that the incidence of apoptosis and necrosis were increased by a statistically significant amount by the presence of magnetic fields.
All in all, kiddies, take yer vitamin E and melatonin regularly if you use a cell phone or blow drier. You should be all right then.. :)
Re:Umm... (Score:5, Interesting)
Hmmm...I use headphones, don't you?
Re:Radiation from Monitors (Score:4, Interesting)
Nothing to do with mobile phones (Score:3, Interesting)
i am skeptical of this study because a friend of mine who works in biomagnetics assures me that the effects of high B-fields on human tissue were carefully invesigated prior to the approval of MRI macines for use in biomedical imaging. any ill effects due to low-frequency or DC fields would have been found at that time. of course this is just hearsay and i am not qualified (or inclined) to assess this particular study on it's scientific merit! : )
Prolonged exposure (Score:2, Interesting)
And what qualifies as prolonged? Are some people so shaggy that they are using electric razors for hours on end? and not only that, but the only thing in an electric razor is a recharchable battery, maybe some electronics for charging said battery, and a motor and wires and switch. Millions of devices have these things in them, and humanity as a whole isn't getting stupider by the second (although sometimes it does seem that way). Scientists who make brilliant discoveries (and geeks in general) tend to have more of these devices, and these people represent the smartest people that humanity has to offer.
I think this may be a case of a study finding some correlation where there really shouldn't be any, or just bad methods overall. I'm currently taking part in a medical study, and if nothing else i've learned that there a ton of ways for the participants and doctors to skew the results. Designing a good study is essential, but actually carrying it out properly is the tough part.
Re:ugh. (Score:3, Interesting)
Headphones? Naaah. Electric blankets! (Score:3, Interesting)
People sleep all night, often every night, with electric blankets warming their bodies, and if it's cold they tuck their heads under the covers too. I'd think that'd be an even greater risk than the headphones.
Re:Umm... (Score:1, Interesting)
So just eat foods with antioxidants... (Score:2, Interesting)
Crisis averted.
Re:Low (?) level magnetic fields (Score:4, Interesting)
Better insulating perhaps?
Re:How did they prove it was cumulative? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not moving to a log cabin with no electricity anytime soon, but I'd like this research followed up with more experiments.
Thick Skull (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Umm... (Score:5, Interesting)
It's been reported [sciamdigital.com] that sleep repairs the normal daily damage done on the brain from free radicals (different stages of sleep repairing different parts of the brain), and I can't see why this wouldn't carry over to magnetic damage. Is there a neurosurgeon in the house?
MRI (Score:2, Interesting)
If this is true, just imagine what the 4T used by the MRI scanner at your local hospital will do to you.
Shavers are nothing. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Umm... (Score:3, Interesting)
Floating Frogs (Score:3, Interesting)
Aluminum is actually fairly paramagnetic, if I recall.
Back in 1997 a group even levitated a frog [hfml.kun.nl] in a 16 Tesla field. How fun is that?
Re:ugh. (Score:5, Interesting)
There have been a number of studies in the past that have tried to link exposure to magnetic fields to cancer (particularly leukemia in children who live near high voltage power lines). It has generally been scoffed at, as the energies involved are not enough to break chemical bonds. However, by involving iron and free radicals, the energies involved can have an impact on reactivity.
Makes me wonder, given I did my Ph.D. dissertation in a lab that studied free radicals, using machines that generated fields of 0.3T (note, not mT) for hours at a time...
Re:Radiation from Monitors (Score:2, Interesting)
Where the hell do they get figures of 10 and 30 Tesla from? A 25T magnetic field is about as strong as man can produce without using explosive flux confinement or discharging massive capacitor banks. This requires huge superconducting magnets cooled with liquid helium at temperatures close to abosolute zero.
This is high school physics, the magnetic field from a straight conductor is easy to calculate. To get a magentic field of 30T, 1m from a straight contuctor requires a current of 150million amps!!!
Looks like something written by a bunch of biologists who don't have the faintest clue what they are talking about. As a result we have more bloody junk science and anyone publishing such total and utter trash deserves a good kicking in the head.
Re:Umm... (Score:3, Interesting)
A point source? Please, tell me where to find this mythical magnetic point source (a.k.a. a monopole).
For a line source, it drops proportional to the distance.
Again, please tell me where to find a "line source" of magnetic field? You seem to be thinking of the electric field, which is quite different from a magnetic field. It's physically impossible to have a monopolar magnetic source. To put it in terms of Maxwell's Laws, the divergence of the magnetic field is always zero.
Maybe I should connect a ground wire to my tinfoil hat.
As I've said elsewhere, your tinfoil hat won't do a damn thing to block a magnetic field, grounded or not. Come on, you can surely find a magnet and piece of foil somewhere in your house and perform the extremely simple and obvious experiment that proves this...
Ratchet powered shavers and Clockwork Vibrators. (Score:3, Interesting)
There used to be shavers that relied on the user using a squeezing action to pump a ratchet gear which kept an internal flywheel working.
They were manufactured by "Viceroy". I was given a broken one to play with when I was a kid. I was fascinated by it.
http://www.fixyourshaver.com/images/Viceroy_193
http://bakelite_world_2001.tripod.com/itsbake
Is there as causal link between women using vibrators and medical problems?
Anyway, before items such as those we may have seen on television appeared e.g. as found here: http://www.toysforusonline.com/productlstR.cfm?ca
there were clockwork alternatives, as theis article explains, (diagram half way down page):
http://www.libidomag.com/nakedbrunch/main
Re:Umm... (Score:3, Interesting)
Nevertheless, all magnetic fields affect everything in the universe to some small degree. So their is an effect.
I think its something we just deal with. You cant expect this level of electromagneticness and not expect any adverse reactions. Its time we stop acting like its all good.
btw you can consider 802.11 an electric field, and not a magnetic one.
My car is killing me (Score:4, Interesting)
Low level EM fields ? (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe I should just disconnect myself from the so called grid, move out into the country and orienteer in the dark for entertainment. All I'll need is matches and a compass ... (?) .... AAAAIIIRRRGGH !!!
My God, I'm doomed....
Dean G.
Fenton Reaction (Score:5, Interesting)
As I said then, we're sadly ignorant about the effects of water in its various conditions and products due to external forces, on our systems. We're starting to find out a lot of answers, good and bad, are focused on water. In this respect, this article makes perfect sense.
"DNA ROT" (Score:3, Interesting)
The implication I guess is that cell breakdown and death occurs more quickly, but aren't you constantly losing brain cells at a breakneck pace anyway?
Re:Umm... (Score:4, Interesting)
because my razor has a battery in it (as do most I think) so it is not 60hz AC.
Also I see no mention of new fangled toothbrushs. I use one of them inside my scull everymorning.
I am too stupid to figure out how to read more then the blurb. Maybe it is the toothbrush's fault.
Apoptosis=self destruct (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes and no. There are certainly cells that naturally undergo apoptosis (a.k.a. programmed cell death) in their life cycles. If not for apoptosis, we'd all have webbed fingers. But apoptosis also seems to function as an "emergency self destruct" circumstance in which something has gone catastrophically wrong with a cell. And just as in the movies, it's likely that occasionally something manages to push that big red button by mistake...
Re:Radiation from Monitors (Score:3, Interesting)
Do you recall the vertical refresh rate of your monitor? Most modern computer monitors refresh between 60 and 85 hertz, un-nervingly close to the 60 hertz rate described in the article. Fortunately, most of this oscillating magnetic field is in the back of the CRT monitor. So yes, your computer CRT monitor may be harmful. If this worries you (should it?) then invest in a LCD display.
I wonder what the prolonged effects of the 60 hertz field produced from the synchronous motor or power transformer of bedside alarm clocks does for you.
After reading the article, I plan to become a luddite hermit.
Most electric shavers don't use 60 hz. AC... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm just curious, because I just bought a nice electric shaver and I'd like to keep using it. I never use my shaver while it's plugged into the wall. I only plug it in about once a week to recharge it.
There is an increasing number of western medical doctors that are starting to believe that having electric fields near your body aren't health for you. One of my favorite doctors, Dr. Weil, who has a great website [drweil.com], by the way, recommends that you should get rid of the clock radio by your nightstand as well as any electric blankets in your house. It has also been proven that women who spend 8 hours a day in front of a CRT monitor during pregnancy have a higher rate of birth defects. Exposure to electromagnetic fields can't be that good for you, so I try to stay away from them...
Of course, I'm typing this from my Powerbook sitting on my lap while I sit on the couch, with the AC adapter plugged in and charging away... Maybe I shouldn't try to have kids for the next little while...
Good thing my razor is cordless (Score:3, Interesting)
But, I assume the electric motor emits an electric field. I wonder how that compares to the field in their study.
Re:Umm... (Score:1, Interesting)
We are not actually touching with our head this sources of radiation, but if the effect is cumulative ANY electric device (including the wires inside the wall) will contribute to produce these terrible effects.
Try touching an oscilloscope probe with your finger. You'll see what I mean.
Please...... (Score:2, Interesting)
WARNING
Certain components sold
in this store, such as portable
CD players, contain lead, which can cause
cancer. You should wash your hands thorougly after
touching these materials.
Of course, it was a lot more formal than that (I don't exactly possess a degree in Lawyer Talk), but that was basically the gist of it.
Now, it's kind of hard to take an article like this seriously when stuff like this is being posted. How much risk, exactly, is there in getting lead poisoning from a portable CD player?
Re:How close? (Score:3, Interesting)
Why throw it over your shoulder like a continental soldier? It's easier to weld a clean bead and less tiring when you're not holding up 5 feet of #2 AWG cable with the stinger.
Re:How close? (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah... welcome to the club. Ahh the powers of an NMR magnet - erased my credit cards on my last day of work before going on vacation. Found myself in italy the next day with a fried card. Yay.
Re:Umm... (Score:3, Interesting)