Effects of Cell Phone on the Human Body Research Paper - 1

Effects of Cell Phone on the Human Body - Research Paper Example Along with the increase in cell phone use, the incidences of cancer have also exploded all over the world. This may be a consequence of the microwave radiation that is employed for communicating through cell phones. â€Å"Studies that claim a relationship between cell phones and diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s should not be brushed aside as ‘inconclusive’† (â€Å"Disadvantages of Cell Phones†). Cell phone affects the brain activity by giving a boost to the brain glucose metabolism in particular regions, though if or not it is something serious is still debatable. Talking to WebMD, the director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse, Nora Volkow said, â€Å"[w]e don’t know that this is harmful [but we know that] glucose metabolism is a direct indicator of brain activity† (Volkow cited in Doheny 1). The sugar is consumed by cells in the brain for energy. This conclusion was drawn after a comprehensive research by Nora Volkow and her colleagues. They involved 47 healthy volunteers in that research and performed PET scans of their brains after placing the cell phones on their left and right ears. The glucose metabolism in the brain was measured twice. While studying the effect of cell phone on the brain on the positron emission tomography (PST) scans, Volkow found a 7 percent increase in the metabolism of glucose in the regi on of the brain that was nearest to the antenna in people that held the cell phone on either side of the brain for 50 minutes.