Coming on Your Next Flight - Cell Phones

The Federal Communications Commission is saying that it is considering allowing passengers to use their phones during flights and voted unanimously to auction off new spectrum that could bring wireless voice, data, and broadband Internet services to more airlines than the few who offer it today.

For business travelers and others who suffer separation anxiety when apart from their gadgets, this is probably great news. But it may not be good news for many folks who view airplane cabins as a last safe haven from cell phones. Can you imagine 100-200 people talking at once? It also begs the question, who will people hate more: The dreaded crying baby or the guy who talked on his cell phone for two and a half hours?

This news comes on top of a recent medical research project that concludes radio waves from mobile phones harm body cells and damage DNA in laboratory conditions. The so-called Reflex Study, partially funded by the European Union, was conducted by 12 research groups in seven European countries. According to the study, it did not prove that mobile phones are a risk to health but concluded that more research is needed to see whether effects can also be found outside a lab.

The report said that after being exposed to electromagnetic fields that are typical for mobile phones, human and animal cells showed a significant increase in single and double-strand DNA breaks and the damage could not always be repaired by the cell. DNA carries the genetic material of an organism and its different cells. Even worse, the damaged DNA was passed along to future generations. Cell mutations are seen as a possible cause of cancer.

So, let's assume that I am sitting on a plane and 200 people on the flight are using their cell phones (I left mine at home). If this report is true, does this mean that I am subject to second hand cell phone radiation and I might get brain cancer? Just asking!