It is funny how people can assume something only to find that the complete opposite is true. This is one of those instances. We have heard stories from the first days of mobile cell phones that holding the phone to your ear could and most likely would cause radiation damage to your brain. So of course, the natural assumption is that if you can find a way to increase the distance between your brain and the cell phone, you could in fact reduce the amount of radiation to practically nothing. Well, according to a new study out this week, you couldn’t be further from the truth!

According to a new study published in Clinical Neurophysiology, it is suggested that it takes even less time for cell phone radiation to negatively alter someone’s brain. It was suggested that it would take years or at least many months before any negative effects could be realized. It seems that it could actually only take minutes.

RF SAFE is a global provider of cell phone radiation protection accessories and informational data. For more than a decade, RF SAFE has been dedicated to evolving the wireless industries safety standards. It engages in the business of design, testing, manufacturing and sale of safety technologies to mitigate harmful effects of cell phone radiation.

Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) testing, as well as additional research and studies have been conducted by RF SAFE. Below are some of its findings. As you can see, what most people, including myself, thought was the safest way to use a cell phone, really is not.

Phones operate at higher power levels and emit more microwave radiation when they are held lower than the head

Radiation travels through the wire connecting the phone and earpiece and penetrates the head directly through the ear canal. This has been proven to increase radiation exposure to the brain by 300 percent

With phones attached to a belt, microwave radiation penetrates the area by the phone and is absorbed faster than the head because tissues and organs such as the liver, kidneys and reproductive organs provide better conductivity than the skull and have no bone protection

Three hundred percent is nothing to sneeze at. Turns out that all you are doing by using earbuds is to create an antenna that sends the microwave radiation directly to your brain via the ear canal. I’m not sure that there is a more direct route.

When you add to this the fact that by wearing your cell phone on your belt, the way that I do, you are also irradiating your liver, kidneys and God forbid, your reproductive organs! Considering that many people use earbuds to listen to music, the question has to be raised, “How safe is this?”

When referring to the fact that wired earbuds act line an antenna, the Consumers’ Association was completely surprised by the findings from RF SAFE’s report. Graeme Jacobs, who is editor of Which? said, “If you're worried about levels of radiation from your mobile phone, you shouldn't rely on a wired hands-free set.”

So I thought that I was being really safe using my Plantronics Voyager Legend Bluetooth headset. It turns out that while I may be saving my brain somewhat, I’ve actually been playing Russian roulette with my lower organs!

Edited by Cassandra Tucker