Chapter 4

Cordless Phones

The radiation from cordless phones is similar to that from mobile phones, so all that’s been said about the latter applies to cordless phones as well.

In fact, cordless phones may be even more of a problem than mobile phones. That’s because:

• Many people spend longer on their home or office phone than they do on their mobile phone, often thinking it’s safer. It’s not!
• Most cordless phones don’t have adaptive power control, so they don’t adjust their power for high- and low-reception areas. This means they are operating at high power all the time — and that means more radiation is absorbed by the users’ heads when they make calls.
• Cordless phones emit radiation from both the handset and the base. In many cases, the base of a cordless phone transmits a signal 24/7.

Professor Lennart Hardell has found that long-term use of a cordless phone increases the risk of some types of brain tumours. For example, in a study published in 2015, he found double the risk of gliomas among the people who had used cordless phones for the longest — and risk was greater for people who had begun using such phones before the age of 20. In another study, he found that people who had used a cordless phone for more than 20 years had six-and-a-half times the rate of acoustic neuromas.

SUGGESTION

Try this experiment.

Make a call on your cordless phone. As you talk, walk out of your house and as far down the road as you can before the call cuts out.

That’s how far the radiated signal from your cordless phone and cradle reaches.

If it reaches beyond your home in every direction, then it’s certainly penetrating all the rooms of your home and exposing everyone inside to some wireless radiation.

Don’t be fooled

There’s no such thing as a ‘safe’ cordless phone. Some retailers sell cordless phones that they claim are ‘safe’ on the basis that the cradle does not transmit a wireless signal 24 hours a day. However, this does not make the phone safe. You and your family would still be exposed to wireless radiation whenever you speak on the phone, just as you would if you use a mobile phone. Perhaps even more so.

Increase your freedom

Perhaps you like having a cordless phone for the freedom it gives you to move around while you talk.

You can increase the freedom you have from a corded phone in several ways.

• You can buy a corded phone with a speaker function, so that you can move around the room as you talk.
• You can buy a longer cord for your corded phone — that way you can talk on the phone where you like.

Of course, a corded phone will give you the most important freedom of all — freedom from radiation.

Risk and precaution

If you do use a cordless phone, here are some thoughts about how use affects exposure.

LEAST WISE

• Spending long periods using a cordless phone against your head.
• Allowing children to spend unlimited time on a cordless phone.
• Locating a cordless phone near a bed or other high-use area.

WISE

• Don’t hold the cordless phone directly against your head for calls — use speaker function instead.
• Limit the amount of time you spend on your cordless phone.
• Don’t locate a cordless phone next to a bed, on a desk, next to a lounge, or close to a kitchen work area.
• Don’t allow children to use a cordless phone.

WISEST

• Use a corded phone (with no wireless function). If you want to keep your hands free, buy a phone with a speaker function so you can work while you talk.