Health IT, Hospitals, Policy

Cellphones, watches, apps and cancer and cigarettes!

Are wearables and smartphone apps, and the doctors who espouse potential benefits when applied to […]

Are wearables and smartphone apps, and the doctors who espouse potential benefits when applied to healthcare, akin to the thankfully forgone days of doctor-recommended cigarettes?

Is this an absurd question and comparison? Yes. Yes it is. But Nick Bilton of the New York Times’ Style Section makes the link, although the over-arching point is that “some researchers and consumers” are raising questions about health issues and wearables and cell phones. Here’s the lede.

“In 1946, a new advertising campaign appeared in magazines with a picture of a doctor in a lab coat holding a cigarette and the slogan, “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.” No, this wasn’t a spoof. Back then, doctors were not aware that smoking could cause cancer, heart disease and lung disease.

In a similar vein, some researchers and consumers are now asking whether wearable computers will be considered harmful in several decades’ time.”

“Similar vein” is , shall we say, a massive  stretch. Cigarettes do cause cancer. Cigarettes do lead to heart disease. And cigarettes do lead to lung disease. If you find a doctor or a researcher who says otherwise, find a new doctor and a new researcher. Nevertheless, there has been for decades concerns over microwave technology and cell phones, and whether prolonged exposure to low levels of radiation can lead to brain tumors, cancer, and such.

While some of the concern may not be unreasonable, Bilton does note that “there is no definitive research on the health effects of wearable computers (the Apple Watch isn’t even on store shelves yet).” However, he goes on to say … “we can hypothesize a bit from existing research on cellphone radiation.”

“The most definitive and arguably unbiased results in this area come from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a panel within the World Health Organization that consisted of 31 scientists from 14 countries.

After dissecting dozens of peer-reviewed studies on cellphone safety, the panel concluded in 2011 that cellphones were “possibly carcinogenic” and that the devices could be as harmful as certain dry-cleaning chemicals and pesticides. (Note that the group hedged its findings with the word “possibly.”)

Note that this entire article is hedged with the word “some” researchers and “some” consumers. Some consumers thought radiation from microwave ovens would kill anyone in a kitchen. There were studies.

Still, one can see that holding a cell phone to your ear over long periods of time might not be the best thing for your brain (although, it should be noted that using apps doesn’t require holding a phone or a tablet or an Apple watch to your head. Nor does texting, which the article points out).

And it turns out that a main source for this article, Dr. Joseph Mercola, isn’t thought very highly of among other doctors. He focuses on alternative medicine and runs the website www.mercola.com, which sells tanning beds and other supposed homeopathic remedies.  Here’s more on that. And here’s what the Verge is saying about NYT using Mercola as a credible source.

He has been the subject of four separate letters from the FDA for mislabeling products or promising health benefits that are not supported by the medical literature. The fact that he’s being quoted as a health expert by The New York Times is astounding, as some have already noted.

One study from a group of Swedish researchers concluded that “talking on a mobile or cordless phone for extended periods could triple the risk of a certain kind of brain cancer.

Then there’s research that points to the opposite conclusion, that there is no strong link or that more research is needed, as the CDC noted in 2014.

There’s more back-and-fourth on differing studies, but the important question is, what’s a concerned consumer to do?

The short version is don’t hold watches or apps to your head. And maybe use a head-set on your cell phone. Good to know.

Update: Apparently, this story originally had the headline of  “Could wearable computers be as harmful as cigarettes?”, but has been changed to the much more subdued “The Health Concerns in Wearable Tech.”

Screenshot from http://technabob.com/blog/2009/11/14/cigarette-pack-mobile-phone/

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