It seems that each generation falls victim to a vice which initially is represented to be free of health risks but over time raises increasing public concern. Cigarette smoking in the United States certainly adheres to this model. There seems to be nothing like a good war to “jump start” maladaptive behavior, as World War I saw the coinage of the term “soldier’s smoke” and with it a steady increase in the rate of cigarette smoking among the adult population. With nicotine in place as a powerfully addictive stimulant, cigarettes were touted as being advantageous to those wishing to sharpen their mental acuity or struggling to lose weight. For a time, it was also purported incredibly to lower the risk of breast cancer!
Movie stars, major league baseball players, and even presidents were seen with and even hawking cigarettes unashamedly; smoking was simply the fashionable thing to be doing. With 45% of the U.S. adult population smoking in the late 1950s, cigarette smoking reached its peak. In spite of overwhelming evidence that cigarette smoking causes emphysema, certain types of cancer, peripheral vascular disease, low birth weight babies, and even peptic ulcer disease, 21% of the adult population continues to “light up” today. Smoking is on the decline both in terms of the percentage of people smoking as well as the number of cigarettes being smoked, but the cost has been tremendous and is ongoing.
Despite having such a current and powerful public menace to learn from, it may be that we have loosed another demon among us – the mobile phone. At last count (2010), there were more than 303 million subscribers to cell phone services in the United States. Evidence points to an increase in the number of individual calls, length of calls and total time spent each day on the mobile phone. Herein lies the rub – cell phones are known to emit a form of non-ionizing radiation similar to that released by a microwave oven. The effect of such energy is to cause heating of nearby tissue in the brain and parotid glands, a source of considerable worry and ongoing study. Understandably, children who rank among the busiest users of this technology are considered most at risk, given their still evolving nervous systems. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently classified such energy exposure as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” Taken together, these reports seem frighteningly similar to the course of time seen not long ago with the tobacco epidemic.
Mobile phones, with their sleek design, speed, and cost, connote status much as the cigarette did a generation ago. Even as concern mounts, powerful lobbying groups are hard at work minimizing these early warnings. As if these health issues weren’t bad enough, we are now increasingly aware of the direct link between motor vehicle accidents and cell phone usage. Many states have banned texting as well as mobile phone usage while operating a motor vehicle (more will surely follow). The cell phone industry might be well advised to begin a fund from which to shell out payment for the inevitable class action suits to follow.