時尚雙語:使用手機是否真的會導致癌症？
The claim: Cell phones cause brain cancer.
One Swedish study published last year found a link between long-term use of the older analog cell phones and brain cancer; research in rats has shown a link between cell-phone radiation and potentially cancer-causing DNA damage.
The counterclaim: Cell phones are safe.
The largest study to date, published last February in the Journal of the national Cancer Institute, surveyed 420,000 cell-phone users from 1992 and 20055 and concluded there was no evidence of a brain-cancer link. Two smaller studies, published last December in the Journal of the American medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine, came to similar conclusions.
Expert analysis:
Cancer experts feel that cell phones are safe for short-term use--but note that more long-term research is needed. "Studies show that using cell phones for ten or fifteen years doesn't seem to increase brain cancer risk, but we don't have any research that goes beyond that," says Gansler. He points out that the analog phones in the Swedish study emit much more radiation than today's digital ones. And as for laboratory studies, " Results are much different in a test tube or a rat than they are in humans," he adds. But other experts are more cautious. "Brain tumors grow slowly and may not be detected for more than a decade," warns Henry Lai, Ph.D., professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington, in Seattle.
The bottom line:
Until 20-or 30-year studies are available to demonstrate cell-phone safety, take some precautions. Start with a hands-free headset, which may minimize exposure to radiation. Keep your phone away from your body when you're not using it. Joshua Muscat, Ph.D., of the American Health Foundation in Valhalla, New York, also recommends using the newer digital phones, which have less radiation than analog. Don't use it when signal strength is poor, since that means the phone has to work harder, causing it to emit more radiation. And keep your kids off cell phones, since researchers don't know how radiation affects a developing brain. As for devices that claim to protect against radiation," There's no evidence that they work," says Muscat.
正方：使用手機導致腦癌。
去年，瑞典公佈的一項研究結果表明長期使用老式模擬手機與患腦癌有關係。對老鼠進行的研究發現，手機輻射可能破壞DNA(脫氧核糖核酸)，從而致癌。
反方：使用手機是安全的。
去年2月《國立癌症研究所雜誌》公佈了一項迄今爲止規模最大的研究結果——該項研究調查了42萬人，他們分別從1992年和2005年開始使用手機，結論是沒有證據表明腦癌跟使用手機有關。去年12月《美國醫學協會學報》和《新英格蘭醫學雜誌》公佈的兩項規模稍小的研究結果，都得出了類似的結論。
專家分析
癌症專家認爲短期使用手機是安全的；但特別指出對於長期使用手機，還需更多的研究結果以確定其安全與否。甘斯勒說：“研究表明使用手機10到15年似乎不會增加患癌症的機率，但超過那個期限我們沒有任何研究結果。”他指出，瑞典那項研究中使用的模擬手機，較今天的數字手機輻射要強。甘斯勒補充說：“試管內或老鼠實驗的結果跟在人體上的結果大相徑庭。”但其他專家則更爲謹慎一些。西雅圖市華盛頓大學的生物工程學教授亨利·拉伊博士警告說：“腦腫瘤發展緩慢，十幾年內可能查不出來。”
底線
要證明使用手機的安全性，需要20或30年的研究才能作出定論，因而有必要採取一些預防措施。使用無需手持的耳機能使接觸輻射量降至最低。手機不用時，將它放到遠離身體的地方。紐約凡爾海拉美國保健基金會的喬舒亞·米斯卡博士還建議使用新式的數字手機，它比模擬手機的輻射量要少。手機信號弱時別用，因爲那意味着手機工作起來費力，因而會放出更多的輻射。讓孩子遠離手機，因爲研究人員還不能確定手機輻射對孩子發育中的大腦有何影響。對於那些宣稱能保護人體免遭輻射的裝備，米斯卡認爲：“沒有證據表明它們能起什麼作用。
