120/70 & Rising

According to a recent German study, "mobile phones can raise blood pressure significantly." Dr. Stephan Braune of the University Neurology Clinic in Freiburg, Germany, said radio frequency EMF emitted by wireless phones pumped up the blood pressure of 10 young volunteers who took part in the study.

First, I hold researchers in the highest regard. However, can I also say these types of reports are hogwash and strike me as an irresponsible way to get attention and funding?

Let's review the particulars of that study: Braune and his team attached phones to the right side of the volunteers' heads and switched them on by remote control at various intervals. They measured their heart function and blood pressure while they were standing and lying down. There was no sound, so volunteers did not know whether they were on-line or not.

The researchers found that 35 minutes of radio frequency EMF caused increases in resting blood pressure between 5mm and 10mm (millimeters per mercury).

Here are some of the reasons I have trouble with this study: First, this is based on 10 volunteers. This hardly strikes me as a broad enough study group to make sweeping generalizations for a universe of 200 million wireless subscribers.

There was no mention of a reference group. I have to wonder if there was a group of volunteers who had the wireless phones strapped onto their heads but had no energy surging through the handsets. What, if any, effects did this reference group experience?

Wireless phones are small, but even I would be a little discomforted having one of them helmeted on my head. I don't know about you, but that is not how I use my phone.

Also, was there a reference group for cordless phones and regular telephones? Perhaps telephone usage in general causes excitability in humans. You know, the anticipation of what the phone call means. Is that Publishers Clearinghouse calling to tell me I just won? Could that be another telephone solicitor? What if that is the telephone company looking for bill payment? What if that is my mother-in-law?

The 35-minute figure is troubling to me as well. I have both a cellular phone and a PCS phone. When I use either one for more than a few minutes, it becomes noticeably warm. If you had something strapped to your head that was heating up, don't you think you might get a little concerned?

Besides all of the questions this raises for me, I also question the very psychology of these studies. When I was studying undergraduate psychology in college, my classmates and I were required to serve as guinea pigs for the graduate students. I drew this study with an officious enough title that I can't recall. I knew only that I was to show up at 9 a.m. at the departmental office. I was greeted by a lab-coat-wearing grad student who took me into a barren backroom. There he took my blood pressure and temperature and told me I could go.

Huh? Where were my ink spots, my word associations, I wanted to know. What was the study about anyway? The grad student said his group was studying the effects of research studies on blood pressure. It seemed that the participants, myself included, generally showed elevated blood pressure when involved in such studies.

I am all for ensuring that our industry protects its customers from any physical concerns. However, I find these types of studies only serve to create an unhealthy paranoia.

Now if these guys want to do a research study, I have a suggestion: Determine the effects of inconclusive wireless studies on industry representatives' blood pressure. Because they do not seem to be troubled by small volunteer groups, they can use me as both the study group and reference group. Heck, they don't even have to measure; I'll just tell them. My blood pressure is 135/80 and rising.