Are consumers buying more headsets so they don't have to put their phones to their ears – following warnings about the increased risk of cancer from cell phone use?
A station in Idaho went to ask a locally-owned cell phone store – was there is increase in headset sales?
"Not a big increase – but I think more are starting to use Bluetooth. Because you are using a headset the cellphone doesn't cause cancer, the radiation or signal are so little you won't notice a difference," Manny Ibarra, owner of Lend Me An Ear, told the station.
In addition, Ibarra said users tend to get headaches if they use a phone without a headpiece, why he recommends getting one like Bluetooth.
After a World Health Organization (WHO) report – which warned about the risk of brain cancer from cell phone use – some consumers planned to buy headsets to protect themselves from radiation exposure, according to emfnews.
But many consumers are simply ignoring the warning and are content to use their cell phone as is.
Emfnews said that John Gottani, a manager at a cell phone store in New York, has never had any customer ask if the phone can cause cancer. Gottani said his customers want to know if the phone “works” and “if it texts.”
Still, emfnews reports that searches for “cancer” and “cell phones” on Google (News - Alert) “spiked this week.”
As a precaution, cell phone users who want to protect against radiation may want to use a headset, emfnews said.
For example, Bluetooth headsets reduce radiation exposure, emfnews adds.
“With over 5 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide, cell phones have become a part of our daily routine for communicating with others and are here to stay,” according to a report appearing on TMCnet. “Using a hands-free device can reduce the exposure to radiation by a factor of eight hundred, drastically lowering the exposure from max 2 watts from cell phones to 0.0025 watts max output for Bluetooth hands-free devices and zero watts for corded devices.”
Ed Silverstein is a TMCnet contributor. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Juliana Kenny