I just saw a story from NPR reporting on a study that finds that mobile phone antennas can increase glucose production in the brain near where the antenna is located [1]. The NPR report of the study suggests that the researchers did control the variables and controlled for bias; they put a mobile phone on both sides of the subject’s head, they did not tell them which phone was on, and they conducted PET scans of the brain before and after the phone was on.
Their conclusions are that exposure to the radio waves from mobile phones can increase glucose production in the brain by 6%. Before you freak out, it’s worth noting what the researchers say in response to these findings:
Volkow says that level of increase in brain metabolism is not terribly dramatic — studies have shown that just opening your eyes can produce a much greater change in brain cells that process visual information. And scientists say it’s hard to know what to make of the change. [1]
Glucose – sugar – is needed by the brain during processing. Clearly, some people who don’t understand the basic science of electromagnetic waves (e.g. mobile phone radio waves cannot ionize atoms) but who crave the need to blame medical problems on phones are going to interpret this study any way they like. So I began to think to myself: if I were to misinterpret the statements and findings of these researchers, how should I do it?
Wait, I have it!
Important scientific study finds that opening your eyes or thinking pose a higher risk of increased brain sugar levels than mobile phones. If mobile phones cause brain cancer, looking or thinking must turn the brain to mush. It’s just good [sic] science.
