VOA标准英语2011--Scientists Point to Possible Health Effe

Scientists Point to Possible Health Effects of Cell Phones

This past May, in a major policy shift, the World Health Organization said electromagnetic fields produced by mobile phones are possibly carcinogenic. Although the International Association for the Wireless¹ Telecommunication² Industry says there's no evidence that cell phones have a negative impact on health, many people are wondering exactly how electromagnetic fields, including those generated by cell phones, might harm them.
The World Health Organization says at least five billion people around the world use mobile phones and those who use them most frequently could be at risk for malignant³ brain tumors.
Many scientists welcomed the WHO statement, but some said it did not go far enough because it didn't mention impacts on human health from cell towers and other wireless devices.
Camilla Reed is founder⁴ and director of ElectromagneticHealth.org, an advocacy group that's been critical of the mobile phone industry. She explains the basics of electromagnetic fields.
“An electromagnetic field is a wave with a frequency. The frequency may be long or tight. It's energy; it's packets of energy that is a natural phenomenon on earth, but it is also modulated⁵ by mankind to create telecommunication spectrums that are artificial frequencies that are not found in nature and that our bodies are not adapted to,” Reed said.
Reed says research on the biological impact of electromagnetic fields goes back to the 1950s. Those impacts include not only cancer, but other effects on living cells and their genetic⁶ material, their DNA⁷.
Reed is especially concerned about the growing pollution from electromagnetic fields near schools, like these cell phone antennas⁸ next to a high school football field in a Washington suburb.
Scientists disagree about the health effects of electromagnetic fields. But they all agree that caution should be used when it comes to children, the most vulnerable group.
Some health experts believe the effects could be wide-ranging. Dr. Ashok Agarwal heads the Center for Reproductive Medicine at Cleveland Clinic. He has done several studies on the impact of cell phone use on male fertility.
“We demonstrated that men who use cell phones for more than four hours per day have a significant reduction in their semen quality in most of the semen parameters⁹ such as sperm¹⁰ count, mobility¹¹, and morphology,” Agarwal said.
Dr. Agarwal says other scientists have gone farther in finding damage to DNA and other changes attributed to electromagnetic fields.
Neuroscientist Nora Volkov, at the National Institutes of Health, has been using magnetic resonance¹² imaging ((MRIs)) to study human brain responses to electromagnetic fields.
“What our study does show is that the human brain is sensitive to the effects of electromagnetic radiation from cell phone exposure, when the cell phones are placed by the side of the head,” Volkov said.
Volkov's study did not determine long-term impact. But she compares her initial studies to those done decades ago on the health effects of tobacco. She says scientists had to wait 15 to 30 years before there was conclusive¹³ evidence that smoking causes cancer.
On the safety of cell phones, scientists offer these suggestions. “When it comes to children and adolescents, I would give the recommendation to parents to encourage them not to use the cell phone by the side of the head but instead to use the speaker phone mode or with a wire, and certainly would not recommend for them to sleep with their cell phones under their pillows," Volkov said.
Dr. Ashok Agarwal from Cleveland Clinic.
“The technology is very important for our day-to-day life, but we need to be aware that there may be some possible side effects that can be there with overuse of these technologies,” Agarwal said.
The evidence on the cancer-causing potential of cell phone radiation is not yet conclusive, but the World Health Organization's cautionary stand is certain to fuel intensified¹⁴ research into electromagnetic fields and their impact on public health.

1 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

2 telecommunication   

n.电信，远距离通信

参考例句：

• Telecommunication is an industry of service.电信业是一个服务型的行业。
• I only care about the telecommunication quality and the charge.我只关心通信质量和资费两个方面。

3 malignant   

adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的

参考例句：

• Alexander got a malignant slander.亚历山大受到恶意的诽谤。
• He started to his feet with a malignant glance at Winston.他爬了起来，不高兴地看了温斯顿一眼。

4 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

5 modulated   

已调整[制]的，被调的

参考例句：

• He carefully modulated his voice. 他小心地压低了声音。
• He had a plump face, lemur-like eyes, a quiet, subtle, modulated voice. 他有一张胖胖的脸，狐猴般的眼睛，以及安详、微妙和富于抑扬顿挫的嗓音。

6 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

7 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

8 antennas   

[生] 触角，触须（antenna的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Marconi tied several antennas to kites. 马可尼在风筝上系了几根天线。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Radio astronomy today is armed with the largest antennas in the world. 射电天文学拥有世界上最大的天线。

9 parameters   

因素，特征； 界限； （限定性的）因素( parameter的名词复数 )； 参量； 参项； 决定因素

参考例句：

• We have to work within the parameters of time. 我们的工作受时间所限。
• See parameters.cpp for a compilable example. This is part of the Spirit distribution. 可编译例子见parameters.cpp.这是Spirit分发包的组成部分。

10 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

11 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

12 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

13 conclusive   

adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的

参考例句：

• They produced some fairly conclusive evidence.他们提供了一些相当确凿的证据。
• Franklin did not believe that the French tests were conclusive.富兰克林不相信这个法国人的实验是结论性的。

14 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》