Rash Report, not just CFL bulbs or Splenda: It is your cell phone

The issue of rash being caused by sell phone use is not a new report. This type of reaction has been known for many years but this new study shows - once again - that what you don't know about using a cell phone can and will hurt you.

I first reported on this in 2002 and added the report in the ElectroSmog section on mey web site.

"Can mobile phones give you bad skin?"
Radiation from mobile phones could trigger skin allergies, according to new findings. Scientists have found evidence that microwaves from handsets can worsen allergic reactions to dust mites & pollen, by "exciting" antigens - substances which cause allergies - in the bloodstreams of susceptible people.
Dr. Hajime Kimata from Unitika Hospital, Kyoto, carried out research on 52 people with a history of eczema & dermatitis. Researchers in Sweden claimed earlier this year that mobile phones could damage key brain cells & trigger early onset Alzheimer's. 2002

Perhaps if you read, hear and see this kind of information often enough you will allow the facts to get into your sense of reality. Consider the choice offered here.

Doctors warn of rash from mobile phone use
LONDON (Reuters) - Doctors baffled by an unexplained rash on people's ears or cheeks should be on alert for a skin allergy caused by too much mobile phone use, the British Association of Dermatologists said on Thursday.

Citing published studies, the group said a red or itchy rash, known as "mobile phone dermatitis," affects people who develop an allergic reaction to the nickel surface on mobile phones after spending long periods of time on the devices.

"It is worth doctors bearing this condition in mind if they see a patient with a rash on the cheek or ear that cannot otherwise be explained," it said.

The British group said many doctors were unaware mobile phones could cause the condition.

Safety concerns over mobile phones has grown as more people rely on them for everyday communication, although the evidence to date has given the technology a clean bill of health when it comes to serious conditions like brain cancer.

"In mobile phone dermatitis, the rash would typically occur on the cheek or ear, depending on where the metal part of the phone comes into contact with the skin," the group said in a statement.

"In theory it could even occur on the fingers if you spend a lot of time texting on metal menu buttons."

Nickel is a metal found in products, ranging from mobile phones to jewelry to belt buckles and is one of the most common causes of allergic contact dermatitis, according to the Mayo Clinic in the United States.

Earlier this year Lionel Bercovitch of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and colleagues tested 22 popular handsets from eight different manufacturers and found nickel in 10 of the devices.

(Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Opheera McDoom, October 2008)