A recent study by the World Health Organization has found that long-term use of mobile phones can cause brain tumours. Specifically, people who have used a mobile phone for more than 10 years face a significantly increased risk of developing brain tumours such as glioma. The Interphone study involved about 12,800 people from 13 countries.
Dr Elizabeth Cardis, who led the research, said the final report, due to be published by the end of the year, will include a public health warning about the use of mobile phones.
This is something many of us suspected for some time. I know two particularly passionate people who've been convinced for ages that phones were dangerous. The children of one of these people hid their mother's mobile phones, while the other complained furiously about having to use not only one, but two mobile phones for work.
Instinctively, many of us had our suspicions despite being repeatedly assured by learned colleagues that mobile phones were safe.
If we overuse mobile phones, overeat fast foods, over-farm and overfish, maybe we've all embraced new technologies with a bit too much zeal. I guess it's like shopping in a grocery store. We all probably know its best to eat mostly fresh vegies and salad with a touch of fresh protein, which are from maybe two aisles. Yet, we have 12 more aisles where we think maybe we should be having all these things because they are simply there.
We've never been fatter as a nation. We keep talking about negative body image, yet the elephant in the room is: why do we feel we have to embrace so many new foods, fads and technologies and not listen to our instincts which may tell us something else?
So maybe next time we decide something's convenient, even if every advertisement and other person seems to be telling us it is, we should try trusting our own intuition. Think things through then decide what is the true price of convenience to us?
Your say: Do you have a good way of working out the true price of convenience?
By Virginia Graham from www.modelmortgages.com.au
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