I hope The Atlantic is enjoying its page views - pseudoscience sells and they are pushing it out there. After an ill-fated no-science-allowed cultural diatribe (by a food critic, no less) against genetically modified foods graced its pages they have clearly seen the dollar signs - so they want to say maybe cell phones don't cause cancer but (*PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE ALERT*) maybe they do.
cell phones could theoretically pose dangers both physical and psychological -- in the radiation they put off... The World Health Organization (WHO) still lists cell phones as "possibly carcinogenic to humans,".
Who are we to argue with WHO (or The Atlantic)? Oh, people who actually understand what science is, that's who.
Alex Berezow at Real Clear Science gives it the smackdown:
If the radiation from cell phones cannot break chemical bonds, then it is not possible for cell phones to cause cancer, no matter what the World Health Organization thinks. And just to put the "possible carcinogen" terminology into perspective, the WHO also considers coffee to be a possible carcinogen.
What? Coffee? You'll pry it from my cold, dead, cancer-ridden hands!
Can anyone explain what the 'psychological' risks of cell phone radiation was supposed to mean? The Atlantic used to be terrific, mostly because Andrew Sullivan linked to us a lot. Now, they need someone to read this stuff before they put their brand on it and then apologize with 'we just syndicate it'.
