In 1930, researchers in Germany began establishing links between smoking and cancer. In 1938 a study from John Hopkins University established that smokers do not live as long as non-smokers. In 1944, the American Cancer Society began to issue warnings. A 1952 Reader’s Digest article on the smoking/cancer link urged tobacco companies to start manufacturing low-tar and light cigarettes, and 12 years later the Surgeon General made history when he confirmed the science that had been emerging throughout the century. Just think of how many lives could have been saved if more credence was given to the earliest studies on tobacco, if our government and consumers didn’t wait for “conclusive proof” that cigarette smoking had negative effects on human health? Why aren’t we learning from the past when it comes to the establishing the dangers of cell phones? Why must consumers wait for definitive proof of the dangers of cell phones, yet all the while continue to use these devices without definitive proof of their safety?

Take cell phones for instance. Doesn’t common sense dictate that we don’t want things emitting microwave radiation near our brains, our children, or our reproductive organs? Do I really need a warning from France or a study from Sweden to tell me that electromagnetic radiation is possibly harmful? I mean, if a microwave can cook a sandwich, it can cook my brain, right?