Singer Sheryl Crow recently confirmed that she’s been diagnosed with a brain tumor and she suspects her heavy cell phone use over the years is responsible for it. Crow told Katie Couric during an interview that she spent hours on older cell phones and believes the radiation emitting from those devices likely played a factor […]
Singer Sheryl Crow recently confirmed that she’s been diagnosed with a brain tumor and she suspects her heavy cell phone use over the years is responsible for it.
Crow told Katie Couric during an interview that she spent hours on older cell phones and believes the radiation emitting from those devices likely played a factor in the development of a benign tumor on her brain, close to the area where she often held her phones to talk.
The performer-slash-activist said she’s unable to get any physician to back her on her claim as traditional thinking is that cell phones do not emit enough radiation to cause tumors to grow or cancer to develop despite growing skepticism and medical evidence that backs that theory.
A cell phone-related brain tumor is believed to have played a part in the death of noted defense attorney Johnny Cochran, whom friends said was constantly using his cell phone and was often spotted in public images using his phone.
Crow, appearing on the premiere of Couric’s daytime talk show, said her friends and doctors equated her “mushy” feelings of forgetfulness and confusion as part of the rigors of being a busy mother of two children. Crow said she’d forget lyrics to songs on stage while performing – lyrics many people in the crowds could recite in their sleep.
The singer is a breast cancer survivor and believes her recent diagnosis is not a cause for concern as doctors have told her it is benign but her announcement is sure to add to the calls from consumer safety advocates that cell phones and other wireless devices be required to have more clear warnings about the potential dangers of radiation emitting from them.
The cell phone and wireless device manufacturers have been successful so far in tamping down calls for legislation that would require them to clearly mark the amount of radiation that emits from their devices. The federal government appears to back the industry as it has failed to classify cell phones, tablets, or similar devices as being of any danger to a person’s health.
It has been since 1996 that the Federal Communications Commission has issued updated guidelines on the potential dangers posed by cell phones, especially concerning their radiation output. Since then, the cell phone industry has been completely transformed. Millions more devices are in use on an everyday, almost-constant basis. What was once a luxury in 1996 is almost commonplace these days.
That stance does not agree with similar agencies around the world which have recently come out publicly warning of the dangers posed by cell phones, especially repeated use of them by millions of consumers. Several European governments have warned women not to carry their phones in purses and for men not to carry them in their pockets. Children should limit their use of cell phones, if they use them at all.
The World Health Organization recently changed its stance and labeled the radiation emitted by cell phones as likely a cause of cancer.
