Mobile phones could be triggering suicides! Or perhaps they don't.
In another twist in mobile device fear, a British paper publishes claims that a group of Welsh suicides occurred suspiciously close to mobile phone masts ("cell phone towes" in Americanese). Coincidence?
The article then goes on, ominously, to suggest just how far this can go:
There are now 70 million mobile phone handsets in the UK and around 50,000 masts. Both emit radio signals and electromagnetic fields that can penetrate the brain, and for many years campaigners have argued that this could seriously damage people’s health.
Cue ominous background music.
The Bad Science blog explores the article's claims. By "explores" we mean "tears to flimsy shreds, shreds carried off in the slightest breeze." There's no paper. No data. In fact, there isn't any research.
So once again a media outlet runs with a cyberfear story, leaving reality behind. Watch for this claim to be repeated, though, perhaps in fiction, maybe in urban legend, or in policy discussions.
(via Pharyngula)
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