The Case for Safer Phones

We all know someone who has a cracked screen, and some of us have broken phones ourselves.

People will spend hundreds of dollars fixing their broken phones or buying cases that protect our phones-- but what about a case for us?

Last Wednesday, the Environmental Health Trust came to our campus to discuss the impacts of cell phone radiation on our bodies and brains. President of EHT, Devra Davis, pleaded that the audience come to City Hall the following day to talk to our District Representatives and explain the importance of having warning labels on the front of our cell phone packaging.

Currently the manufacturers have a page deep within the phone's "Settings" that explains how people should handle their phones. 

Quote from iPhone 4 Legal RF Exposure page

To get to this page on your iPhone, you have to go to Settings --> General --> About --> Legal --> RF Exposure. It takes five different pages before a person can actually access the information that tells you that your phone exposes you to radiation. Additionally, it is impossible to actually copy and paste the information from this page. 

Many of us feel uncomfortable without our phones-- we release dopamine whenever we receive notifications, and get grumpy or upset when we don't have our phones on us.

But before you stick your phone in your pocket for the next twenty four hours, think about this:

A cellphone is essentially a microwave that you're putting up to your body every time you use it. Cellphones are constantly seeking a signal-- half of the waves that are emitted from the towers to your phone will travel through your body to get to your phone. 

The radiation that comes from cell phones was never actually tested before; people are now finding that it damages and unravels DNA with the free radical byproducts. Damaging our DNA also means that the cells that build the DNA will be mutated-- leading to cancer or other problems. 

Guys that leave their phones directly against them in their pockets can harm their potential for fertility, and ladies that stick their phones in their bra can cause breast cancer. ALL of us that constantly put phones to our ears multiply our chances of brain cancer by six times.

Don't freak out though! We still can help fight against this by:

                                   Devra Davis presents ways to help reduce radiation intake

BE SMART WHEN YOU USE YOUR SMART PHONE!

Environmental Student Activism: Panel Discussion

Have you heard of the Divestment campaign? The Green Initaitive Fund? The Real Food Challenge? Did you know SF State has a campus garden?

If you have of if you haven't, find out more at our Environmental Student Activism panel discussion, next Monday, April 15th! The event will be held in Rosa Parks A&B (in Cesar Chavez Student Center) from 2-4pm.

Find out what great initiatives fellow students at SF State are working on and what it means to be an activist on campus!

Our Panelists:

• Sharon Daraphonhdeth with "Why Student Activism is Important to the Success of Campus Campaigns"
• Lisa Roach and Tyler Wescott with and update on the Real Food Challenge and our campus community garden
• Nick Cicchetti with "Divestment/Fossil Free SFSU" 

and guest speaker, Environmental Studies professor, Glenn Fieldman.

We hope to see you there!