Cellphones Are Not Good For The Heart
Khaleej Times
September 28, 2005
Excessive use of mobile phones could weaken heart muscles and cause paralytic stroke, doctors have cautioned. At least two people in Abu Dhabi have been diagnosed of Atrial Fibrillation or heart irregularity, possibly triggered off by mobile phone radiation.
Dr Rajeev Gupta, consultant cardiologist at Ahalia hospital
told your favourite No. 1 newspaper Khaleej Times that radio frequency
discharges from the mobile phones affect the electrical pacemaker of the
heart, producing arterial fibrillation.
“Two people — one aged 52 and the other 47 — had come to complain of heart
palpitation. Their ECG confirmed that both suffered from Atrial
Fibrillation, which is normally caused by dysfunction of heart valves,
enlargement of heart chamber, over functioning of thyroid gland, coronary
artery diseases, or high blood pressure,” explained Dr Gupta.
“But what was intriguing was these patients showed no such symptoms. Further
inquiry into the lifestyle of the two businessmen showed that their daily
talking time on mobile phones varied from four to six hours.
“This, in conjunction with the other well-reported side-effects of mobile
phones, strengthened my doubts and I surmised that in these two cases, the
palpitation was caused by mobile phone radiation,” underlined the
cardiologist. Dr Gupta also claimed that in both the patients, the
irregularity in heartbeats became normal after 24 hours of rest and
discontinuation of mobile phone usage.
One of Dr Gupta’s patients who requested not to publish his name told this
reporter that his heart’s condition is much better after reducing the usage
of mobile phone. “I had to rely on mobile phones, especially while
travelling from Abu Dhabi to Dubai daily since other means of communication
are not available. I started developing palpitation, and after reducing the
use of mobile phones as per doctor’s advice, I felt much better.”
In the light of his conclusions, Dr Gupta also pointed out the common belief
that use of earphones reduces the risk of radiation does not hold ground as
one of the above-mentioned patients was using ear phones. According to him,
the King Khalid University Hospital, Saudi Arabia, recently conducted a
study to determine the link between the use of mobile phones and hearing and
vision complaints among the Saudi population. The associated percentage of
complaints of earache, heating around the ear, and decreased hearing was
31.2 per cent with duration of calls 5-10 minutes a day, 42.9 with 10-30
minutes, 30.4 per cent with 30-60 minutes, 45 per cent with 60-120 minutes,
and 36.4 per cent with more than 120 minutes per day.
Similarly, the percentage of decreased or blurred vision, or both were 6.2
per cent with duration of calls 5-10 minutes per day that rises to 5 per
cent with 60 to 120 minutes per day. According to the study, mobile phones
are low power radio devices that transmit and receive radio frequency
radiation at frequencies in the microwave range of 900-1800 MHz, and despite
repeated horror stories in the media about mobile phones, the number of
mobile phone users worldwide is reaching one billion.