Transcript der umstrittenen Wi-Fried-Sendung (III) (Allgemein)

Gast, Samstag, 05.11.2016, 11:43 (vor 2946 Tagen) @ Gast

Dr Devra Davis
There is no cause of cancer in the environment that shows up in the general population in ten years. Not asbestos, not tobacco, not DES, not benzene, none of them shows up in ten years, so of course we don't see any increase in brain cancer now. There's none expected.

NARRATION
Dr Davis says if you want a more accurate picture of what's happening with brain cancer rates, you have to look more closely at specific groups rather than the general population rates.

Dr Devra Davis
When you look at specific groups, however, you are seeing an increase in younger brain cancers in certain types, in certain locations.

NARRATION
Although brain cancer is rare, the latest US figures show a statistically significant increase in malignant and non-malignant brain and spinal cord tumours in adolescents. This doesn't mean it's caused by mobile phones, but it may be a factor. Brain surgeon Charlie Teo recently attended the seminar where Dr Davis was presenting her evidence. He brought along his surgical team.

Dr Charlie Teo
As a primary care physician at the coalface of patients with brain cancer, I think it's my responsibility to try and look for some potential causes of brain cancer, and we find any at all, to make the public aware of them.

Dr Ken Karipidis
The biggest single exposure that a person gets is through their mobile or cordless phone use. There is some epidemiological evidence of a possible association between prolonged mobile phone use and certain brain tumours. That evidence is not good enough to say mobile phones do cause cancer, but the possibility remains, so there is merit for those that are concerned in reducing your exposure to mobile phone use against the head, and in fact will provide advice in doing that by using your hands-free kit or putting the phone on speaker mode or various other ways. When it comes to children, there's not enough evidence in this area, so our recommendation is slightly stronger. We do recommend that parents limit their children's mobile phone use.

NARRATION
In a statement, the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Industry says there's no evidence of any additional risk to children from mobile phone technologies, but the research relating to children is limited, so the possibility of harm cannot be ruled out.

Dr Devra Davis
It increases heat-shock proteins, it increases reactive oxygen...

NARRATION
Dr Davis' campaign has provoked criticism, but she remains defiant.

Dr Maryanne Demasi
Are you cherrypicking the data to suit your argument?

Dr Devra Davis
No, I'm not cherrypicking my work. With respect to mobile phones and brain cancer, the reality is every single well-designed study ever conducted finds an increased risk of brain cancer with the heaviest users, and the range of the risk is between 50% to eightfold. That's a fact.

NARRATION
These are rare brain tumours like malignant glioma. And in children, there's virtually no data available.

Dr Devra Davis
Children today are growing up in a sea of radiofrequency microwave radiation that did not exist five years ago. A child's skull is thinner, its brain contains more fluid. Things cook in a microwave oven if they have more fluid and more fat in them, so because the skull is thinner and the brain contains more fluid, a child will absorb more radiation relative to that of an adult.

NARRATION
Scientists have been able to demonstrate this. So in an adult, what were the results?

Dr Devra Davis
You can see that the heaviest radiation here is indicated in the red and it gets just into the first part of the eye and the cheek and the ear, right? So the rest of it doesn't really get that far, that's the faintest colour. But if you look at the child, this is a three-year-old, you can see it gets all the way through the head.

Dr Maryanne Demasi
Wow, so that penetrates almost to the other side of the ear.

Dr Devra Davis
Correct.

Dr Maryanne Demasi
That's incredible. Do we know that this translates into health effects for the child?

Dr Devra Davis
No. We don't.

Dr Maryanne Demasi
So should we be concerned?

Dr Devra Davis
You wanna experiment on your children? Go ahead. I don't think we have any reason to think this is a good idea, and in fact, manufacturers are now advising, Samsung has a statement - a cell phone is not a toy.

NARRATION
When it comes to reducing risk, it's all about proximity from the device. Radiation exposure drops off exponentially with distance.

Dr Devra Davis
Distance is your friend here and children, of course, infants should never be close to any of these devices. They've been tested on this big adult guy, they've never been tested for infants and toddlers. Any parent out there that gives their child a device to play with because they're driving them crazy, put it on airplane mode. If it's on airplane mode, they can still play the game, but they're not sending and receiving microwave radiation. It's not that it should be no devices, it's just we've gotta be more careful about how we use them.

Dr Charlie Teo
Really, when it came to cigarette smoking, we had no idea of the mechanism...

NARRATION
Brain surgeon Charlie Teo limits his children's exposure.

Dr Charlie Teo
The kids didn't get them until they were older, post-pubescent. I absolutely forbid them to use it holding it up to their head. They've got to put it on speakerphone or use a device. When they go to bed at night, they have to have it at least one arm's length away from their head, not to be under the pillow, not to be on the bedside table.

NARRATION
One study involving 14 countries is currently assessing whether use of mobile phones at an early age increases the rates of early on-set brain tumours in 1,000 young people. The results will be released this year. Unlike mobile phones which can be switched off, wi-fi exposure is constant.

Kevin Rudd
This is the toolbox of the 21st century, OK?

NARRATION
The 2008 education revolution under the Rudd Government led to the roll-out of wi-fi routers in public schools across the country, but some parents are concerned about their children's exposure to wi-fi in the classroom.

Libby Laura
Basically when a child starts high school, they're at school from anywhere from four to six years, and they're sitting in radiofrequency microwave radiation, the 2B possible carcinogen, and the routers are pulsing all day, every day. On top of that, you've got mobile telephones, you've got their laptops, so you've got this whole layering of radiofrequency microwave radiation that we've never been exposed to before in the past. With regards to that layering effect, who's to say what the consequences of that will be for that child's long-term future?

Dr Maryanne Demasi
Unfortunately, we weren't granted access to measure the levels of wi-fi radiation in this school. The Department of Education didn't respond directly to our question about the risks of exposing children to wi-fi, but they did state the Australian Government is supporting research into the effects of electromagnetic energy on people's health.

NARRATION
Libby says parents should not be forced to choose between educating their children and safeguarding them.

Libby Laura
It's almost a case of involuntary consent. In a world where we sign permission slips at school for absolutely everything, no parent has given their child permission to sit in the 2B possible carcinogen, but yet they're unaware that's what they're sitting in.