Do you believe that cellphone towers are harmful to humans?

No. I have looked at a review of the evidence written by the UK NHS. There is no evidence that these masts or towers have any harmful effects. More research is being carried out which is a good thing

I am not sure if the towers are harmful, but given the choice between living next to one or not living next to one, I’d choose not to live next to one.

I do carry a cell phone. Usually I carry it in my handbag. Once in a while I’ll take it out and leave the handbag and put the phone in jacket pocket or back jeans pocket. 95% of time it’s in handbag.

I have no reason to believe that it is harmful. I recognize there have been some inconclusive studies on the matter, so I’m open to the possibility that I am mistaken.

In fact, I think we should always be open to the possibility that we are mistaken. Certainty is the father of dogmatism and the enemy of reason.

What @SavoirFaire said, though I wouldn’t have said it as elegantly.

Ditto to @SavoirFaire (and @longgone).

@SavoirFaire This is about as conclusive as you can get
http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d6387

About as harmful as cell phones.

They will have to pry my smartphone out of my cold, dead, tumor covered, seven fingered hand.

Alright, this question is in General so I’ll break it down seriously:

1. My smartphone is a tremendous modern convenience.

2. It is a source of pleasure.

Activists HATE when others are contented with things such as convenience and happiness.

So something must be done.

As usual, this activism is rife with hypocrisy. How are these activists communicating and spreading their message? Smoke signals and leaflets?

I suggest that “EMF activists” put their money where their mouths are and instead move to some third world backwater with no cellular telephony while there still are some.

We really need to distinguish between phones and towers because the difference is massive. Your low risk from the phone is much, much more than the tower. My old job did the RF safety studies on towers in my area and we found that there is essentially zero risk. The take off angle and distances involved simply are not harmful. We use the most sophisticated RF survey equipment available and towers register at background unless you are basically suspended in the air right in front of them. Even directly below them we essentially don’t read any RF. The phones use weaker RF but at extreme close proximity. This matters because if you are worried about RF from your phone (and you should be cautious with them) simply hold it an inch away from your head. RF follows the inverse square law. I realize that studies are inconclusive but it technically is a hazard and a health risk. Walkie talkies, handheld radios and cell phones are the single most encountered RF risk and it’s not zero either. Power, proximity and duration are what matters here. If you talk on your cell constantly with it right against your head please buy yourself a headset. The EMF activists are mostly full of shit but there are some things that are hazardous. I recall an IT tech installed an access point directly above one of our cubes and when we tested it we found hazardous levels and made them move it. Most of what people worry about is benign and some of the things that fly under the radar may not be. In the case of the access point above the cube it was a device that transmits constantly and the person would be in a hazardous RF range for a long period of time. This probably happens in offices across america that don’t happen to house a bunch of RF engineers. This is nothing to be ignored but it is vastly blown out of proportion when people worry about hair dryers and stuff.. Like all of these issues that become political like GW for example neither side doing the arguing have it right at all. This is something I have training in and I know well. And an FYI it’s not cancer that is the big worry here folks, it’s cellular damage. The first things that start to tingle when you are in a strong RF field are your nuts and your eyes… that’s our joke anyway. RF can give you soft tissue damage and you may not be able to feel it. Just keep the phone a little bit away from your head.

and for the record I’m a cell phone addict and use it constantly but rarely do I hold it close to my head.

@Rarebear And here is a more recent study pushing in the opposite direction (though only mildly so). In any case, the key words in your response are “as you can get.” Science doesn’t do certainty—nor should it. We have to make due with being reasonably confident. Or in the words of David Hume, “the wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.” We can be reasonably confident about EMF radiation. We cannot be certain. Besides, certain breeds complacency. Scientists should never be complacent.

@SavoirFaire You’re obviously data savvy. That French study is a meta-analysis. I generally don’t put a lot of stock in meta-analyses as they are often garbage in/garbage out. Also, they are difficult to interpret because of the heterogeneity of the included studies. But your point is taken.

When I get more time and if I feel motivated, I’ll pull the study and examine its methodology.

@Rarebear Keep in mind, you don’t have to convince me. I’m not afraid of EMF radiation. I also share your wariness of meta-analyses. But as a fallibilist, I think it is important to be aware of our epistemic limitations. This keeps us from making claims that go beyond our evidence. And ideally, it also keeps us from judging too harshly those who lack the advantage of our education.

@SavoirFaire Oh, I know. I was just pointing out that I generally don’t like meta-analyses. I try to avoid them in my own work unless I absolutely have no alternative. Medical meta-analyses are rife with shitty studies and cherry picking with poor statistical power. One thing that I try to teach our residents is that it’s okay to glance at the conclusion, but the first section you should read in a paper is the methods.

You can Google headaches from cell phones, cell phone radiation, health concerns related to cell phones etc.
There’s literally a ton of information out there about the dangers of cell phones.
I guess they’re all lying to us.
Damn scientists!

radiation is not my friend
...i was on a three story flat roof with
a cell tower. When i got about twenty feet from it, the hair
on my arms was standing straight up and the skin was tingling.
Go figure…

@babaji waay too close no barriers to keep you out?

No.