Actually, you probably CAN find authorotative information on radiation at this site! There are probably several engineers with experience with rads as well as some docs and other health professionals with rad experience.
As someone with enough knowledge to be dangerous in this area
, it's important to remember what IS known about EM and radiation in general...
1.) Most folks hear the word, "radiation" and immediately get a panic-type reaction. Why? Because they really don't know anything about radiation except what they have seen all those bad movies from the 50's and 60's about giant spiders or ants that have mutated because of exposure to atomic radiation.
2.) There is no shortage of folks who want you to BELIEVE that all radiation is BAAAAD. They don't want power lines, cell phones, cell phone towers, irradiated food or nuclear power. They have turned this philosophical belief into a crusade and a career that has nothing to do with the actual science and experience.
3.) Because of ths above, many lawyers have jumped on the EM/radiation bandwagon. Right now, the principle owner of the Baltimore Orioles, Peter Angelos, is working on a class action lawsuit against cell phone makers. The reason? EM radiation from the phones causes brain cancer. The problem: all available scientific evidence fails to show that this is actually the case. Thiis lack of science doesn't mean a thing. What's important in court is to have a person with a brain tumor show up in court against the Very Big Cell Phone company with it's spiffy and expensive lawyers. The jurors will feel sorry for the sick guy, look at the Very Big Cell Phone Co with it's deep pockets, and decide that a couple million dollars from them is not gonna be a big deal and could really help the sick guy. The Very Big Cell Phone Co will then be forced to pay gobs of money defending itself and will be forced to place warning stickers on their products.
That's the people part of the equation. Here's the science part.
4.) Despite the claims of many, there is no scientific evidence that EM poses any risk to humans.
5.) From a toxicology standpoint, there is no biologically plausible mechanism for EM to produce toxicity.
6.) Concerning other types of radiation, what most folks do not understand is that there is a great deal of evidence that a certain amount of radiation is actually GOOD for you! There are numerous animal models that have demonstrated improved health and prolonged survival in animals exposed to radiation compared to control animals with no additional rad exposure and animals with very high rad exposure. There are also small human population exposures that have corroborated these findings. Unfortunately, most regulators do not use this information when making risk assessments. They assume that ANY rad exposure is problematic.
Bottom line: life is ultimately fatal. There are many things in life that can hasten your departure from this world (cigarette smoking, playing with loaded guns while drunk, etc.). But using headphones is not one of those things.
Bruce
