We just don't know

I first read about the potential hazards of electromagnetic fields for humans shortly after graduating from college. I was lying on my bed in Palo Alto reading Paul Brodeur's classic "The Hazards of Electromagnetic Fields I: Power Lines." Looking up, I realized that there were transmission lines running just ten feet from my bedroom window which looked out on Alma Avenue.

For years I sat in front of at least one (but usually multiple) computer terminals, the subject of the third installment of Brodeur's New Yorker series.

Given the dangers, especially cancer, described in the series, I've always wondered what I might be doing to myself, but the only significant change I can remember is getting rid of my electric blanket.

The latest worry--and arguably, the most dangerous if there's anything to these as of yet unsubstantiated concerns about electromagnetic radiation--is cell phones. Here's an article from the New York Times which discusses the issue again in the wake of Senator Kennedy's glioma diagnosis.