Health Effects of Wireless Technology

As part of a viral marketing campaign for their Bluetooth headsets, Cardo Systems created an illusion that several mobile phones next to one another could pop popcorn. It's interesting that they would use this illusion to promote a product that involves putting a transmitter next to your head. I guess any publicity is good publicity, as long as we get their URL right in our links.

We know the thermal effects of a 1/4 W transmitter aren't significant, but we don't know for sure about the athermal effects. I first saw a 1 GHz handheld transmitter in a magazine in the late 80s. Handheld 1 GHz was new technology then. (Modern mobile phones operate a 0.9 and 1.85 GHz. Bluetooth operates at 2.4GHz.) The magazine warned users to hold the unit far away from their heads when they pressed the transmit key. Gradually, over about 20 years, people seemed to forget about the possibility of long-term athermal effects. I am not sure whether there was some research published that said there are no significant athermal effects from 1 to 2 GHz signals, or if people just forgot about the possibility.

On one hand 1/4W isn't very much compared to 100,000W FM radio stations people have been exposed to for decades, but mobile phone frequencies are 10 times higher and people hold the phones right up to their heads. I would not be completely shocked if there turns out to be some long-term health effects.