PDA

View Full Version : The latest thing the loonies have come up with that will hurt you.



Okla-homey
3/30/2008, 06:54 AM
Continuing the long line of stuff that will hurt you, all of which subsequently debunked, including living around high-tension powerlines, unintended/uncommanded acceleration in cars, vaccinations, caffiene, brief exposure to second-hand smoke, concealed gun carry permits, saccharin, silicone breast implants...now, its your mobile phone. Its purportedly shooting dangerous radiation into your brain and inducing tumors therein.:eek:

Note: not be confused with talking on your cellie or texting while driving. That, like putting on mascara, giving or receiving oral pleasuring or eating a big 'ol sloppy Whattaburger while driving is indisputedly dangerous.


Mobile phones 'more dangerous than smoking'

Brain expert warns of huge rise in tumours and calls on industry to take immediate steps to reduce radiation. Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take "immediate steps" to reduce exposure to their radiation.


The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment yet published of the health risks.

It draws on growing evidence – exclusively reported in the IoS in October – that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop, invalidating official safety assurances based on earlier studies which included few, if any, people who had used the phones for that long.

Earlier this year, the French government warned against the use of mobile phones, especially by children. Germany also advises its people to minimise handset use, and the European Environment Agency has called for exposures to be reduced.

Professor Khurana – a top neurosurgeon who has received 14 awards over the past 16 years, has published more than three dozen scientific papers – reviewed more than 100 studies on the effects of mobile phones. He has put the results on a brain surgery website, and a paper based on the research is currently being peer-reviewed for publication in a scientific journal.

He admits that mobiles can save lives in emergencies, but concludes that "there is a significant and increasing body of evidence for a link between mobile phone usage and certain brain tumours". He believes this will be "definitively proven" in the next decade.

Noting that malignant brain tumours represent "a life-ending diagnosis", he adds: "We are currently experiencing a reactively unchecked and dangerous situation." He fears that "unless the industry and governments take immediate and decisive steps", the incidence of malignant brain tumours and associated death rate will be observed to rise globally within a decade from now, by which time it may be far too late to intervene medically.

"It is anticipated that this danger has far broader public health ramifications than asbestos and smoking," says Professor Khurana, who told the IoS his assessment is partly based on the fact that three billion people now use the phones worldwide, three times as many as smoke. Smoking kills some five million worldwide each year, and exposure to asbestos is responsible for as many deaths in Britain as road accidents.

Late last week, the Mobile Operators Association dismissed Khurana's study as "a selective discussion of scientific literature by one individual". It believes he "does not present a balanced analysis" of the published science, and "reaches opposite conclusions to the WHO and more than 30 other independent expert scientific reviews".

OKC-SLC
3/30/2008, 07:45 AM
Perhaps we should make vaccines against cell phone-induced tumors.

With lots of tumor-preventing mercury.

OKC-SLC
3/30/2008, 07:52 AM
"...a paper based on the research is currently being peer-reviewed for publication in a scientific journal."

Let's see where this manuscript lands.

Mixer!
3/30/2008, 10:13 AM
Pffft, this was talked about 10 years ago, when I still had one of those Motorola bag phones. Besides, they just announced last week that corn (http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110058) was teh debbil.

StoopTroup
3/30/2008, 11:55 AM
When Tom Osborne was Coaching...

Corn was teh Debil. :D

TheHumanAlphabet
3/31/2008, 12:10 AM
The Audi did have unintended acceleration. Defect in car.

I do believe the science does show that excessive use of the cell phone does increase chance for brain tumors. How much is too much, I don't know.

It is well documented that one should not use the phone at all while driving. It takes too much cognitive resource from a person that would otherwise be used to enhance their driving capabilities.

Blue
3/31/2008, 12:26 AM
It is well documented that one should not use the phone at all while driving. It takes too much cognitive resource from a person that would otherwise be used to enhance their driving capabilities.

:rolleyes: If you're a retard.

TheHumanAlphabet
3/31/2008, 12:32 AM
:rolleyes: If you're a retard.


No everyone. This is one time I seriously hope the government outlaws phoning and driving. Just way too much evidence and I have seen way to many lawsuits and photos from the aftermath for phone driving...

Not an easy thing for me to say as I am pretty much government stay out of our business.

Blue
3/31/2008, 12:48 AM
I had 10 more wrecks before cell phones. 0 in the last 5 years when I'm constantly on the phone working and driving. No way you can enforce that law.

Okla-homey
3/31/2008, 06:22 AM
The Audi did have unintended acceleration. Defect in car.



I respectfully disagree. We owned an 1986 Audi 5000. Bought it new in Memphis, thus we paid attention to what was going on. The whole thing ended up being pretty simple. The Audi's brake and accelerator pedals were closer than Americans were used to. Thus, people were occasionally hitting the gas instead of the brake. Especially old people (over 45). Particularly old women.

In short, the problem was operator error, not whether or not these cars had a "mind of their own" as alleged by several victims and famously depicted on "60 Minutes." Unfortunately, the Germen automaker didn't sack up, recall the cars and fix the problem early on with the shift lock that is standard on everything now.

Instead, the Kraut white coats took the approach "Zer ist nuzzing vrong mit our cars!" That just made it worse. The "60 Minutes" piece finished 'em off. It has been over twenty years and Audi still has not fully regained the market share it lost over that 60 Minutes dealio and the company's feckless and bumbling public relations fiasco.

Incidentally, the Tylenol scare that came along right after that Audi fumble taught the business world a thing or two about how to handle these messes.

I remember studying both cases in grad school. The Audi one for what NOT to do, and the Tylenol one for what to do. Tylenol knew there was nothing wrong with their product and that a few capsules had been tampered with post-production, but they said WTF anyway and pulled ALL their product nationwide. They then introduced the "tamper-proof" seal that is common today. People watched that, thought it was cool, and Tylenol didn't lose marketshare.

OUDoc
3/31/2008, 08:31 AM
The Audi did have unintended acceleration. Defect in car.


Like Homey said, there are many automotive experts who disagree. However, once the public believed it, Audi had big problems.

soonermix
3/31/2008, 09:47 AM
this just in... from a very respected research journal up there in new england where some very smart scientests tested this extensively, years and years of research, testing and man hours have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt...



there is no sex in the champagne room

TheHumanAlphabet
3/31/2008, 09:55 AM
I respectfully disagree. We owned an 1986 Audi 5000. Bought it new in Memphis, thus we paid attention to what was going on. The whole thing ended up being pretty simple. The Audi's brake and accelerator pedals were closer than Americans were used to. Thus, people were occasionally hitting the gas instead of the brake. Especially old people (over 45). Particularly old women.

In short, the problem was operator error, not whether or not these cars had a "mind of their own" as alleged by several victims and famously depicted on "60 Minutes." Unfortunately, the Germen automaker didn't sack up, recall the cars and fix the problem early on with the shift lock that is standard on everything now.

Instead, the Kraut white coats took the approach "Zer ist nuzzing vrong mit our cars!" That just made it worse. The "60 Minutes" piece finished 'em off. It has been over twenty years and Audi still has not fully regained the market share it lost over that 60 Minutes dealio and the company's feckless and bumbling public relations fiasco.

...

As an Ergonomist/Human Factors Engineer, I would submit that the pedals being too close to each other is a design flaw or defect. We have data that would show how close together to space the foot pedals. Now I am splitting hairs with you, but I run into this all the time in my job. Engineers think you can procedure out of a bad design, rather than go back and redesign it. There are times that this may work, but in consumer products and in new design, it is easier and more prudent to re-design/engineer. And yes, the German response, though typically German, was not what the answer should have been. Surprisingly, the German engineers are like that...