Showing posts with label EMF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EMF. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

SmartMeters Risky in more ways than one

SmartMeters have many drawbacks for consumers but a recent New York Times articles asks "... are they actually dangerous? A study released last week by environmental consulting firm Sage Associates contends that they are. The report claims violations of federal emissions standards at a variety of distances from the meters and argues that the devices are more dangerous when grouped together and when coupled with other wireless technologies.
"Indiscriminate exposure to environmentally ubiquitous pulsed RF from the rollout of millions of new RF sources (smart meters) will mean far greater general population exposures, and potential health consequences," the study says. 

As more and more utilities move to this type of metering to help save on their costs and manipulate your energy usage too, you might want to consider the issues and how they can impact your life and health.
EMF Backlash: Cell towers and SmartMeters from Natural Notes by herbalYODA
UPDATE: 10 August - Clothing that stalks you: Wal-Mart employees will not be removing the RFID tags when items are sold or deactivating the tags  > read more 
UPDATE: 3 August - The Pants That Stalked Me
UPDATE: 1 August - As WIFI and other wireless devices escalate so do reports of increasing health risk.
Pulse-modulated microwave emissions from masts and mobile phones
Report on a cancer cluster in an antenna ranges facility
Cancer Mortality near Air Force Bases (include airfields in general)
And note that those RFID tag readers in WalMart - they do read your RFID enhanced (and hackable) driver's license data too.
I've been involved in researching and educating about EMF (electro-magnetic fields) since the mid/late 90s when I helped stop a cell phone tower at the school in my small Cascade foothills town in Washington state.
As EMF exposure escalates so does the science and so does health risk.
Cellular carriers do know the problems but don't usually include it in marketing material.  The data can be found in their patent applications if you really want to learn more about the issues. This concern has led to the newly passed legislation in some areas that now required radiation data to be provided withe phones and other similar type appliances you can can buy.  And this isn't limited to phones, it does apply to all wireless applications.
In 2004 I taught a class on the technology and increasing problems with the ability to diagnose health complaints. This group of health professionals was aghast when I relayed all of the known health concerns that had been identified from EMF exposure in the scientific literature dating back to the 1940s. Much of this had been classified in Navy archives, but had been released in the 90s.
Fast forward to Arizona and 2010. 
Not too long ago I noticed a parent in group in Gilbert taking a very courageous tack against the school board regarding erection of a cell tower on an elementary school yard. Being a bit courageous myself, I sent some information to the group.  So far that cell tower is tabled.
I noticed an older article on azcentral from 2007 about a cell tower going up at another school.  Then I found even more reporting on the proliferation of cell towers throughout the area.  Yikes!  Do I need to carry a tin foil hat with me now? 
Perhaps the money is the lure, but, unwittingly, those who allow these applications may not be fully educated about the risk, and the cell phone companies like it that way.
This takes me a step further in my plan to be in the area soon so I started researching utilities for the area where I'll be.  I noticed that SRP was the power company for my area and they are involved in a change over to SmartMeters. 
SmartMeters meters use wireless technology  that sends out short, high intensity bursts (pulsing) of microwave radiation that communicates your energy use data to the utility.  With very little public input meters get installed and thus begins the influx of complaints about inaccurate bills and even spontaneous combustion of the meters. Some governments have wisely responded by planning to place a moratorium on further installations.
     Read about the risk of almost constantly emitting pulses from the SmartMeter here and here.
I'm not opposed to progress or new technology, but I am a proponent of the precautionary principle. I fall back to "precaution" from my days as a Planning Commissioner and member of the Health and Environment Commission in places where I have lived in the past.
I believe there does need to be an effort by those who are elected to represent the people in any community to require companies that develop and manufacture the technology, and those who introduce them into daily life, to prove the technology is safe before it is globally implemented.
So far the batting average weighs on the side of higher health risk with wireless.  Be forewarned.
And to see just how viral EMF is becoming, read my post about tagged clothing that tracks you...
Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 07:54 AM
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Friday, December 3, 2010

Non-Ionizing Radiation Ramps Up Health Risks

Overwhelming evidence shows that RF can cause DNA damage, and DNA damage is a necessary precursor to cancer.

Of course the cell phone and WIFI proponents don't want you to know what they know, but now a critical mass of data is available, with more scientific proof coming daily, to get you to the point where - if corporations won't - you can take the precautionary position.


If you are a regular reader of Natural Health News you are aware that we have been covering this issue since 1998.  Here is a new report that might make you pay a bit more attention.  More so if you have an idea to hook your children up with a cell phone, or are using baby monitors at home.

Is Your Health on the Line?

 

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Real EMF Danger

Vatican radio waves blamed for high cancer risk

A court-ordered study has found that electromagnetic waves beamed by Vatican Radio leave residents living near the station's antennas at a higher risk of cancer.


Magnetic fields near the Vatican are six times more powerful than allowed

"There has been an important, coherent and meaningful correlation between exposure to Vatican Radio's structures and the risk of leukaemia and lymphoma in children," the report said, according to the daily La Stampa.
The report also warned of "important risks" of dying of cancer for people who had lived for at least 10 years within a 5.5-mile radius of the radio's giant antenna towers near Cesano, 12 miles north of Rome.
The radio's director, Federico Lombardi, disputed the report, saying: "Vatican Radio is astonished to hear the news on the results of the study."

Mr Lombardi, who is also the Vatican spokesman, added: "Vatican Radio has always observed international directives on electromagnetic emissions and since 2001 has observed more restrictive norms set by Italy to allay the concerns of the neighbouring populations."

Speaking on Vatican Radio, he said: "According to international scientific literature on the matter, the existence of a causal link like the one apparently hypothesised by the report had never been established."
A Rome judge ordered the report in 2005 as part of an investigation into a complaint filed in 2001 by Cesano residents who alleged health hazards posed by the electromagnetic waves.

Vatican Radio's then-president Roberto Tucci and director Pasquale Borgomeo were among defendants in a case that was thrown out last year after the statute of limitations expired.

At the time, Mr Lombardi said he was not satisfied with the result since he had expected an acquittal.
The Vatican spokesman said the Holy See would soon publish its own experts' conclusion in the case.
A 2001 investigation by Italy's environment ministry showed that magnetic fields in the area were six times more powerful than allowed, while Rome's Lazio region estimated that the rate of deaths from leukaemia among children in the Cesano area was three times higher than in adjoining areas.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/7891504/Vatican-radio-waves-blamed-for-high-cancer-risk.html

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Real EMF Danger: Your Brain on a Cell Phone

UPDATE: 16 June -

(CNN) -- San Francisco, California, likely will become the first U.S. city to require cell phone companies to disclose how much radiation their gadgets emit.
The city's board of supervisors voted 10-1 on Tuesday in favor of a law that would require handset makers to post in stores how much wireless radiation their phones give off, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the measure into law.
The city says consumers can use the information to differentiate between cell phones that emit relatively low and high levels of radiation.
Some researchers link those emissions to cancer and brain tumors, although there is no scientific consensus on the matter.
The New York Times compared San Francisco's mobile phone law to those that require food makers to reveal trans fat levels.
"It's information that's out there if you're willing to look hard enough," Tony Winnicker, a spokesman for the mayor, told the Times. "And we think that for the consumer for whom this is an area of concern, it ought to be easier to find."
The mobile phone industry opposes the new law, saying that science has shown cell phone radiation is not harmful to people.
"Rather than inform, the ordinance will potentially mislead consumers with point-of-sale requirements suggesting that some phones are 'safer' than others, based on radio frequency emissions," John Walls, a spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA), told The Chronicle.
A landmark study on the potential health effects of cell phone radiation found no conclusive evidence that the emissions are harmful or that they are safe.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission says cell phones must not have a "specific absorption rate" of more than 1.6 watts per kilogram. That's a measure of "the amount of radio frequency energy absorbed by the body when using a mobile phone," according to the FCC.
Information about radio frequency emissions from cell phones already is available online. The San Francisco law would put that information in front of customers in stores and would require mobile phone retailers to provide additional safety-related information to consumers.
Find this article at:  http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/06/16/san.francisco.cell.radiation/index.html           

A review of the recent inconclusive report on call phones and brain cancer lead an investigator to re-review the studies.

Mobile phone users 'five times more likely to develop a brain tumour'

By Fiona Macrae

Lead researcher Lloyd Morgan said there could be a 'brain tumour pandemic' unless people changed their patterns of mobile phone use. 
This would include texting rather than holding the phone to the ear.
People who talk on mobile phones are up to five times more likely to develop brain tumours than those who stick to landlines, academics have warned.
They say a number of previous studies into mobile phone safety 'substantially underestimated' the cancer risks and that tumours are much more common on the side of the head to which the mobile is held than on the other side.
After reanalysing the earlier studies they concluded that the risk of these tumours is between 10 and 500 per cent higher with long-term mobile phone use.
Lead researcher Lloyd Morgan warned yesterday that the findings raised the possibility of 'a brain tumour pandemic' unless people change their pattern of mobile phone use.
Mr Morgan, of the Environmental Health Trust, a U.S. campaign group, spoke out after re-examining the figures from six previous studies.
These included a Swedish one which originally concluded that people who used mobile phones for at least ten years were 3.9 times more likely to develop an acoustic neuinroma  -  a non-cancerous tumour  -  on a nerve near the ear to which they held their phone compared to those who rarely or never used the devices.
The reanalysis, designed to take into account flaws in the design of the study which could have skewed the results, put the increased risk at 4.9 times.
Another study had concluded that ten years of mobile phone use raised the odds of 'same side' gliomas  -  aggressive brain tumours  -  by 60 per cent.
But if the new technique is applied, the risk is raised by 100 per cent, a scientific conference in Seoul, South Korea, will hear today.
Reanalysis of a third study concluded that every 100 hours of mobile phone use raises the odds of meningioma, another common brain cancer, by 24 per cent.
The results of some of these studies were included in the world's largest study on mobile phone safety.
Released to much fanfare in May, the Interphone project concluded that ten or more years of mobile phone use raised the risk of a glioma appearing on the side of the head to which the phone is held by 21 per cent.
The British scientists involved in the study said the figures were flawed and urged people not to worry.
They pointed out that some of those who took part claimed to have used their mobiles for more than 12 hours a day ten years ago  -  something which was 'incredibly implausible'.
In addition, brain growths can affect memory, meaning some of those with tumours may have over-estimated how much they had used their phone.
Mr Morgan's team crunched the same figures but tried to factor in the effect of various design flaws.
This showed the increased odds of 'same side' gliomas to be 51 per cent  -  more than twice as high as estimated in the May study.
However, British cancer experts said predictions of a 'brain tumour pandemic' were overblown. Ed Yong, of Cancer Research UK, said: 'Even after the minor adjustments reported in this new analysis, the results from the overall Interphone study are still either not statistically significant, or right on the borderline.'
John Cooke, of the Mobile Operators Association, which represents the industry, said a World Health Organisation fact sheet last month stated that 'to date, no adverse health effects have been established for mobile phone use'.

Natural Health News has over 100 posts related to cell phone  health risk issues.

As first posted: Real EMF Danger: Your Brain on a Cell PhoneAs this technology becomes more and more pervasive I believe it is important for you to get the facts the government, media, and cellular companies are withholding !

Electromagnetic radiation and its effect on the brain: an insider speaks out 
A very good interview to read that addresses serious concerns about EMF, your brain and health
Effects on Honey Bees

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Cell Phones, Other EMF Exposure and Your Health

UPDATE: 17 May -
Longterm study links cellular use with cancer and more to review
MAY IS ELECTROSENSITIVITY MONTH, many states are promoting this as a health education event.

Cell Phone Radiation Levels

FCC Consumer Resources: Wireless Devices

Even though some people who submit comments seem to assume that I am not aware of the physics and mechanics of transmission from cell towers (http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2010/04/parents-stop-palm-tree-cell-tower.html) The opposite is true.

I venture to guess that the anonymous poster isn't as aware as the cell phone companies who include the risks in their patents, or the work of Dr. Neil Cherry.

Now the FCC admits the cancer link, something I've been reporting for more than a decade -
-"Mobile phones could cause cancer, government agencies admit" 28 April 2010
The possible health hazards from long-term use of mobile phones are finally being taken seriously by agencies in the UK and USA after years of denials that there was any risk. In the USA, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is now recommending that people use an earpiece or headset with a cell (mobile) phone following reports that "wireless device use can be linked to cancer and other illnesses", while the UK is starting a major study of health problems from long-term use. The FCC's latest set of guidelines represents a huge shift, and for the first time acknowledges that there could be a health danger in using a cell phone. Apart from using an earpiece or headset, it recommends that users should keep phones away from the body, and should not attach them to a belt or leave them in a pocket that's next to the body; users should use the speaker option so that the phone is kept further away from the head.
To make it simple, the transmission of the microwave energy used to make your cell phone or other device work is because of communication between the device and the antenna.  Inside a building the energy required to make this connection occur is greater.

The array of emissions from the antenna is not a lineal beam (vertical or horizontal) because the pattern of the array emitted from the antenna (or more than one which is usual) takes on the from of similarity to an open umbrella.

Another consideration is the SAR level of the device and if you do a modicum of research you find that as the 3G and 4G devises proliferate the SAR levels increase.

The point is it requires a circle of no less than 6 feet in diameter  from you if you are on a cell phone or using wifi to protect another person from the radiation your device is emitting.  This is your choice if you want to have this exposure but don't think that other people, a baby you are carrying, or a small child wants the same risk.

And please do not listen to the cellular company propaganda, do your own thorough and definitive research.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Monday, November 16, 2009

Headphone risk to pacemakers

PEOPLE with pacemakers know to keep magnets and electronic devices, such as cellphones, away from the implant to avoid interference. But now it seems even the tiny magnets in headphones pose a risk.

It's still safe to use them, says Kevin Fu at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who carried out the study. Just don't keep them in breast pockets.

Fu and colleagues tested eight different headphones by holding them near the implants of 100 people. They found that in nearly a third of cases the magnets interfered with the device (Heart Rhythm, DOI: 10.1016/j.hrthm.2009.07.003).
Headphones containing neodymium were the most problematic, as the magnetic fields generated were very strong for the headphones' size, says Fu.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427346.500-headphone-risk-to-pacemakers.html

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Canadian Community Proclaims Electrosensitivity Month

The City of Colwood on Vancouver Island (Canada) are proud to announce that the City has proclaimed August as Electromagnetic Sensitivity Awareness Month. This is a first for Canada, as it joins many other countries in recognizing this new environment-related illness.
from GreenMuze
In an unprecedented move, the City of Colwood on Vancouver Island in western Canada, has declared August Electromagnetic Sensitivity Month (EMS). Although a first for Canada, many countries around the world recognize that EMS is a chronic illness with a hypersensitive reaction to electromagnetic radiation for which there is no known cure. Symptoms of EMS include dermatitis, acute numbness and tingling, arrhythmia, muscular weakness, overwhelming fatigue, headaches, sensitivity to light and severe neurological problems.

Colwood Mayor, David Saunders, explains that relief for EMS sufferers can only be obtained by limiting exposure to radiation-emitting devices such as cellphones, wireless technology, FM and cell transmitters and CFL light bulbs, which is becoming increasingly difficult in an electromagnetic emission saturated world.

EMS is currently recognized by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Canadian Government, the Americans with Disability Act and numerous other international organizations as an environmental sensitivity, explains the Mayor’s letter to the community.

The Mayor further explains that the general population is at risk from chronic, long-term exposure to electromagnetic radiation.

Bravo to Colwood Mayor David Saunders.
from Natural Health News

Cell Phone Safety

May is Electrosensitivity Month (FLA)

And from IMVA: Modern Madness

Saturday, March 28, 2009

ELECTROMAGNETIC SENSITIVITY AWARENESS MONTH

Make a Note of This - MAY 2009

The Mayor of Broward County (Fort Lauderdale and area), Florida, The Honorable Stacy Ritter has proclaimed May 2009 as ELECTROMAGNETIC SENSITIVITY AWARENESS MONTH.

EHS is a serious and growing illness that most politicians and doctors in North America are not willing to even talk about. Thanks to the brave and sensible stance of Mayor Ritter and her council, EHS will now get the recognition that it deserves.

What is Electrohypersensitivity

from Martin Weatherall

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Hemoglobin and Cell Phone Damage

Hemoglobin is the iron carrying component of the red blood cell. It has a major function of carrying oxygen to the cells.

I don't think I need to say more.

Effects of Mobile Phone Radio Frequency on the Structure and Function of the Normal Human Hemoglobin

Please use the search function to locate my other posts on EMF, health risks and Cell phones, WIFI et al

Saturday, February 14, 2009

More on health risks of EMF

Quite a few years ago I presented a program to some nurses in Lewiston, Idaho focused on the health impact of EMF and a coming storm of health problems that would be - more likely than not - unable to be diagnosed by mainstream medical providers. Additionally I believed then as I do now that this will be the next rash of health care issues rising, as Dr Rau states, with the addition of DTV, more electric cars and more commercial wind farms ( your stimulus plan), and the many vectors not evaluated for health risk in the long term.

I hope some of the following information will help you to take a better and deeper look at what you may be doing to your health for the sake of convenience.
February 10th, 2009. Dr. Thomas Rau, Medical Director of the world renowned Paracelsus Clinic in Lustmühle, Switzerland says he is convinced ‘electromagnetic loads’ lead to cancer, concentration problems, ADD, tinnitus, migraines, insomnia, arrhythmia, Parkinson’s and even back pain.

One of the most dangerous devices in use, in most homes is the DECT cordless phone. The dangerously high microwave radiation that these 'convenience items' expose families to, are likely to eventually kill and maim more Americans than the two World Wars and the Vietnam war combined. This may take quite some time for the cancer and other illnesses to develop, but scientific research indicates that there is a huge risk of exposing the entire population to this danger and a real cause for deep concern. The adverse health effects of electro magnetic radiation (and in particular microwave radiation) have been known and researched for over sixty years, but it has only been recently that most of the population has been exposed to dangerously high amounts of this pollution. Martin Weatherall

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Now You Don't See It, Yet It Sees You


Here is a writer that is addressing health issues he believes will be up and coming in the next five years.

I've been writing and teaching about these same issues for more than ten years and of course have been ridiculed many times for my thinking on the health risks of EMF and WIFI/microwave.

Things are most likely to get worse after mandated digital TV debuts next February, and its likely your ER doc or health provider isn't aware of how to diagnose or evaluate your symptoms. Or better yet, won't be able to help you treat it or recover.
You´ll Never See It Coming By Alex Richards

In the next five years you may see your health decline. It may start with fatigue and stress. You will awaken un-refreshed. Perhaps you´ll have headaches and find it difficult to concentrate. Out of nowhere will come blue moments and panic attacks. You´ll blame it on your lifestyle. You´re getting older. You will probably never consider the subtle fact: our environment has fundamentally changed..

The US has become increasingly filled with radiation from radio-frequency fields and microwaves. These radio waves create electromagnetic fields (EMF) from cell phones, satellites, military and airport radar, WiFi, security alarms, baby monitors and even remote control toys. Until the late 1980´s these radio waves were mostly generated by commercial or military sources. But then we began to bring microwave transmitters like cell phones, WiFi and microwave ovens right into our lives. Our environment, once filled with only thousands of distant fixed transmitters now has become an environment filled with millions of mobile transmitters, many of which beam EMF into our homes. What was once solely a commercial/military source of microwaves, has given way to the "dark side" of the consumer wireless revolution.

Most of us never noticed. These waves are invisible. We can´t feel, taste, or sense them. But their effects can be observed and measured. While measurements show that the intensity of radio waves in our environment has risen between 50-150 times in the last decade, in an eerie parallel, science has been tracking the explosion of unexplained health impacts.

Scientists have already linked biological effects, symptoms and disease with low-levels of electromagnetic radiation (www.BioInitiative.org). Over 600 studies connect EMF with Cancer, Alzheimer´s, depression, suicide, Autism, Leukemia, DNA damage, heart disease, strokes, chromosome damage, migraines, permeation of the blood brain barrier, activation of stress hormones, decreases in melatonin/ serotonin and immune system suppression (www.marinproject.org). Other studies help explain the list of unexplained stress symptoms you may be already be feeling: fatigue, memory loss, anxiety, concentration issues, chronic joint/muscle pain, sleep disturbances and heat or ringing in your ears.

The Freiburger Appeal (www.WirelessStress.com) with nearly 30,000 signatures by European physicians links cell phones, cordless phones and cell towers with these unexplained stress symptoms. Along with the growth of wireless since the mid-1980´s, there has been a parallel growth of illnesses without a known cause, so-called mystery illnesses and an emergence of dozens of `new age´ diseases, such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, MS, Lupus, Gulf War Syndrome and Electrohypersensitivity, all of which share the same primary symptoms as the stress symptoms listed above. The link between wireless technologies and the three tiers of health impacts is astonishing: unexplained stress symptoms; "mystery illnesses" and the explosion of "new age" illness.

When you begin to see these stress symptoms coming, you may receive plenty of advice from your family physicians. You will probably fill prescriptions for sleep, pain and maybe even depression. You will gain a sense of management of the symptoms, but they will persist. You will come to accept it.

You will never make the connection to an invisible world of electropollution that has silently exploded around you. You will never suspect that the cell phone in your pocket, or the wireless router that brings you WiFi, could be stealing your health. You´ll go on filling your prescription and explaining the nagging symptoms away. You´ll never see it coming.

and from Sean Arthur Joyce: January 17th, 2008

The Bioinitiatives Working Group of the University of Albany, New York, has undertaken a review of 2000 studies related to bio-effects of electromagnetic fields and has concluded that current safety standards for protecting the public against exposure to EMF are inadequate.

Dr. George Carlo, who was hired by the US telecommunications industry to do the first major study on the issue, had 200 scientists at his disposal in his $28 million study. It was only when his scientific results contradicted the industry’s pre-supposed position of no harm at non-thermal levels of power output that he was marginalized by them and forced to quit.

It was through the industry’s ‘low power exclusion’ that telecom corporations achieved the rare feat of having a consumer product introduced into the North American marketplace with NO pre-market testing!

Brain cancer has risen by 300% worldwide during the past 20 years, roughly concurrent with the widespread use of wireless communications.

And just because we’ve had radio frequency waves in our environment for 100 years doesn’t of itself mean they’ve caused no harm. Cancer in general has soared during the past century.

The World Health Organization has recently admitted (after 30 years of studies to this effect) that children living near high-voltage power lines have a substantially greater risk of developing leukemia.

In any case, it’s up to industry to first prove beyond any reasonable doubt their products are safe, not up to the public to prove otherwise.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Rash Report, not just CFL bulbs or Splenda: It is your cell phone

The issue of rash being caused by sell phone use is not a new report. This type of reaction has been known for many years but this new study shows - once again - that what you don't know about using a cell phone can and will hurt you.

I first reported on this in 2002 and added the report in the ElectroSmog section on mey web site.
"Can mobile phones give you bad skin?"
Radiation from mobile phones could trigger skin allergies, according to new findings. Scientists have found evidence that microwaves from handsets can worsen allergic reactions to dust mites & pollen, by "exciting" antigens - substances which cause allergies - in the bloodstreams of susceptible people.
Dr. Hajime Kimata from Unitika Hospital, Kyoto, carried out research on 52 people with a history of eczema & dermatitis. Researchers in Sweden claimed earlier this year that mobile phones could damage key brain cells & trigger early onset Alzheimer's. 2002
Perhaps if you read, hear and see this kind of information often enough you will allow the facts to get into your sense of reality. Consider the choice offered here.
Doctors warn of rash from mobile phone use
LONDON (Reuters) - Doctors baffled by an unexplained rash on people's ears or cheeks should be on alert for a skin allergy caused by too much mobile phone use, the British Association of Dermatologists said on Thursday.

Citing published studies, the group said a red or itchy rash, known as "mobile phone dermatitis," affects people who develop an allergic reaction to the nickel surface on mobile phones after spending long periods of time on the devices.

"It is worth doctors bearing this condition in mind if they see a patient with a rash on the cheek or ear that cannot otherwise be explained," it said.

The British group said many doctors were unaware mobile phones could cause the condition.

Safety concerns over mobile phones has grown as more people rely on them for everyday communication, although the evidence to date has given the technology a clean bill of health when it comes to serious conditions like brain cancer.

"In mobile phone dermatitis, the rash would typically occur on the cheek or ear, depending on where the metal part of the phone comes into contact with the skin," the group said in a statement.

"In theory it could even occur on the fingers if you spend a lot of time texting on metal menu buttons."

Nickel is a metal found in products, ranging from mobile phones to jewelry to belt buckles and is one of the most common causes of allergic contact dermatitis, according to the Mayo Clinic in the United States.

Earlier this year Lionel Bercovitch of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and colleagues tested 22 popular handsets from eight different manufacturers and found nickel in 10 of the devices.

(Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Opheera McDoom, October 2008)

 
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