Radiation vs. Germs ~ Which Should Worry You More?

For as long as I can remember cell phones being around I can remember people questioning whether or not they're safe. The argument has always seemed to center around cell phone radiation, and more recently bluetooth & Wifi waves. The bluetooth and Wifi scares have pretty much dissolved by being labeled as pure conspiracy theories, but the radiation concerns continue to surface every few months. With each study that comes out though it becomes more obvious that we just don't know the long term risks of RF radiation exposure This article gives a little more insight into the potential jeopardy we're in while at the same time the FDA is stating that "the available scientific evidence does not demonstrate any adverse health effects associated with the use of mobile phones." With all of these mixed signals and unknown effects I wonder if the theoretical brain tumors and Alzheimer's we could contract 20 years down the line is really the number one thing we should be worried about?

Some would say no, common germs could have a much bigger impact on our every day lives. A recent study has shown that an average person's cell phone can have 100x more bacteria than a toilet seat. When it comes to germs I'm more the type to say "bring it on, what doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger," but this kind of statistic concerns even me. After all, putting our heads on a toilet seat and talking to it isn't something most of us, beyond our 21st birthday of course, would ever even consider doing. Being an iPhone user appears to have an even greater danger than standard phones because we tend to show off and share our phones with more people on a regular basis. This leads to the greater opportunity for skin infections, flu virus, and cold viruses to spread. God, how pissed would you be if you got Swine Flu from a cell phone?!

So how do we avoid this plague? Well the two news reports below suggest using rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab to periodically clean it. Thats all well and good but, as the first report eludes to, how often do people really remember to clean their phones? At least one company has decided to step up and help protect us, even when we didn't know we needed protecting. iSkin has come out with two lines of cases which contain Microban in them. Microban is an antibacterial protein that has been around for quite some time and can be found in many normal office products like mouse pads, keyboard covers, even paper and literally thousands of other products out there. iSkin's two case model lines are the Revo and the Solo (which I recently mentioned in my Case Buying 101 article). Of the two I would recommend the Solo over the Revo for a decent all around case. While the Microban doesn't automatically make either of them the best case on the market it could certainly add enough benefits to tip the scale in iSkin's direction.

Ok I admit some of this may be a little dramatic and I certainly don't want to walk out of my house tomorrow to see everyone talking on their phones, holding it with a handkerchief, and keeping it few inches away from there ear. Well ok, I do want to see that, but only because that would mean every person in Phoenix reads my writing. Seriously though, I do think it's important to know about these risks, and knowing is half the battle (I can't believe I just worked a G.I. Joe quote into an article.).