Recently in cell phones and disease Category

As much as we love the services cell phones and wireless services provide, we like to listen to warnings from scientists.  The Environmental Working Group cautions consumers to limit their exposure to cell phones. 

They note that studies find significantly higher risks for brain and salivary gland tumors among people using cell phones for 10 years or longer.EWG has created this user-friendly interactive online guide to cell phone emissions, covering over 1,000 phones currently on the market. The new fuller featured smartphones such as the myTouch 3G and BlackBerry Bold have higher radiation.

Overall wireless customer care performance has improved considerably as customers report shorter hold times and improved rates of problem resolution on the first contact, compared with six months ago, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Wireless Customer Care Performance Study-Volume 2 released today.

Alltel, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless rank highest in wireless customer care performance, in a tie, each with a score of 747. Alltel performs particularly well when contacts are resolved through customer visits to the retail store and ARS, while T-Mobile's strength is in transferring customers from an automated response system to a live service representative. Verizon Wireless performs well with regard to identifying customer problems quickly and resolving them efficiently with service representatives. 

The study finds that overall customer care performance has improved considerably to 735 on a 1,000-point scale, up 12 points from the first wave of the study released in February. Satisfaction improves across all methods of contact, as a result of increased first-contact problem resolution and shorter wait times. More than three-fourths (76%) of calls to customer service are resolved on the first contact, compared with just 66 percent six months ago. In addition, hold times now average 5.55 minutes, compared with 6.58 minutes in February 2009.

The study also finds several key wireless customer care patterns:

• Nearly one-third of contacts pertain to the customer's cost of service.
• Among customers who contact their carrier by phone two to three times to resolve an issue, 17 percent report they are likely to switch wireless carriers in the future. In comparison, just 10 percent of customers are likely to switch when the issue is resolved in one contact.
• Fifteen percent of contacts result from calls or text messages originated by the wireless carrier. Those customers who contact their carrier after receiving these communications are more satisfied (744, on average), than customers who do not receive proactive contact from their carrier (730).  

The journal Pathophysiology has published articles about public health concerns and scientific evidence for risks from cell phones and other wireless or mobile devices.

Research professor and Editor Martin Blank, PhD (Associate Professor, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons) says this issue of Pathophysiology is about the human body’s sensitivity to EMF signals in the environment. Articles detail how EMF affects DNA, effects on the brain from cell phone radiation, and how EMFs in the environment may lead to Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and breast cancer.  Research shows that EMF can cause brain tumors, reduce immune systems, and harm wildlife.

“The scientific evidence tells us that our safety standards are inadequate, and that we must protect ourselves from exposure to EMF due to power lines, cell phones and the like,” said Blank.

Doctors are being warned to be alert to a new allergic skin disorder, caused by mobile phones, according to the British Association of Dermatologists.

A new phenomenon called "mobile phone dermatitis" has been discovered, in which people who spend long periods of time on their mobile phone develop an allergic reaction to the phone's nickel surface.

The problem was identified in several published case reports of patients with unexplained rashes on their face and ear. Closer investigation revealed that the reaction was caused by nickel in the mobile phone handsets, where it is often found in the casing or buttons, particularly in the most fashionable models.