Healthy advertising
A recent television advertisement for bpl India, the mobile phone service provider, caused some consternation among the Indian health fraternity. A man waiting at a bus stop receives a call on his cellphone. As he smiles, the pandemonium around him, the noise of a drilling machine, and the honking of vehicles, all become softer. The scene shifts to a pregnant woman, sitting on a chair, with a cellphone pressed to her stomach. The source of the man's joy becomes evident: he is listening to the sounds of their unborn baby.
The impact of cellphones on health is a hotly debated topic in the West. There are allegations that cellphones could cause cancer, tumours, cardiac arrests, migraines, adversely affect pregnancy, interfere with implants like pacemakers, and expedite the onset of neurological diseases like Alzheimer's.
Although industry-sponsored research shows little evidence of a causal relationship between cancer and radiations from cellphones, independent studies suggest that the link is profound. A research published by scientists at the University of Montpellier in the Journal of Bio-Electro Magnetics suggests that pregnant women who use cellphones could be causing serious harm to their unborn babies. Madeleine Bastide, a professor at the University, studied 6,000 chicken embryos, and found that those heavily exposed to emissions from cellphones during their 21-day incubation period were five times less likely to survive than those not thus exposed.
Prabha Alexander, client-servicing manager at McCann, Mumbai
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