Mobile Phone May Rot Your Bones 220
Stoobalou writes "Researchers at the National University of Cuyo, in Mendoza, Argentina, looked at that strange breed — men who wear mobile phones on their hip. They discovered evidence to suggest that the proximity of the mobile phone caused a reduction in bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) in the men who wore the phones over a 12-month period, compared to a control group that didn't."
Wow ... (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm skeptical, but interested in this ... that would actually be fairly alarming. Though, you'd think cell-phone users would be breaking hips all over the place if that were the case. Certainly some people have their cell-phone in close proximity for an awful lot of hours in a day.
Though, it does make one think a tin-foil codpiece might be in order in case your junk is getting equally affected by the proximity. :-P
Statistical ickyness (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, I am super curious why there is no special mention of whoever he pulled (apparently 1/3rd of the study participants) from the Nuclear Medicine School.
In a study focussed on radiation adsorption, I would think the people who spend a considerable amount of time near a mix of X-Rays and MRI machines might be worth considering as a substantially unique group.
I've read through the thing (institutional login is a lovely thing) and have to agree. Sure they report some statistically significant values but the paper's short on information about the case and control group and probably underpowered to boot. There's also no mention of controlling for smoking or other environmental factors. Because the participants were recruited via word of mouth it could be that his case group has to wear their phones for a specific job and the controls do not. Either way it's irresponsible journalism to report on a study which is merely a pilot and lacks the statistical rigour to have anything worthwhile to report. I'm also skeptical about the use of the paired t-test, how were the participants matched?
Re:Just took phone out of my pants pocket. (Score:2, Interesting)
Yawn, come back when there's something other than "may"
On the one hand we've got the whole of established physics (electromagnetic waves produced by cell phones aren't ionizing). On the other a bunch of self-interested scaremongers who only want to sell books/articles.
Yes, cell phones can heat you up a tiny amount but going outside in the sunshine or doing some exercise heats you up orders of magnitude more and they're both considered healthy by the exact same scaremongers.
Re:Just took phone out of my pants pocket. (Score:2, Interesting)
Joke post?
If you're concerned about radiation, it'll drop off at r^2.
So if you keep it 3 mm from your body (in your pocket), just put it on your desk 12 inches away from you and be over 9000 times safer.