(Mild-mannered editor’s note: Now that have switched from being a newspaperman to a radio person, I have become more self-conscious about the dangers of electromagnetic energy. My backer and ally in giving Nooganomics.com greater utility in Chattanooga is Sab “Confederate Mike” Cupelli of Copperhead 1240 AM. The longtime radio entrepreneur annoys me; I’ll be frank. He puts me on speaker phone, making it hard to hear him and giving his voice a tinny remoteness. But he warns me to do the same. Don’t stick the phone against my skull. Franklin Sanders explains. — David Tulis)

Dr. William Campbell Douglass is at it again, this time denouncing cell phones. He points out that

➤ ““After using a cell phone for 10 years, your chances of getting a brain tumor increase by 40 percent

•➤  ““Cell phones can cause tumors in the salivary glands in your cheeks.

•➤ “Those who use cell phones before 20 years old are five times more likely to develop a brain tumor

•➤  ““Cell phones can increase your risk of developing a tumor of the acoustic nerve by 300 percent.

““Cell phones use an energy source called electromagnetic (EM) waves, a type of microwave radiation that generates heat. For more than half a century, scientists have tried in vain to warn of the dangers of EM radiation.”” Sparing you the details, Dr. Douglass outlines the usual story of discovery and cover-up by government and corporate interests.

In this age of government cover-ups and corporate lies, who knows what to believe? This much is plain: in nature your brain and ear is not exposed to intense electromagnetic radiation. Perhaps that exposure will cause no ill effects, but are you willing to bet a brain tumor on it? How many hours a day do you hold that cell phone up to your head?

Convincing people to use cell phones cautiously is almost as vain as washing and perfuming hogs. To no effect I begged my youngest daughter, who practically had a cell phone surgically implanted in her ear, to stop or to use an earpiece. Here’’s what Dr. Douglass recommends:

•Lower your radiation exposure

➤  ““Use the speakerphone function on your cell phone.

•➤ “Use a Bluetooth earpiece. Still emits some radiation but 100 times less.”” [Sorry, I can’’t go with this. I won’’t walk around with a giant plastic suppository attached to my ear. I still have some dignity, after all.]

•➤  ““Get a ferrite bead. A lot of people used wired headsets, but the wire itself still carried some radiation. When you clip a ferrite bead onto the wire, the bead itself absorbs the radiation.

➤ ““Get a different phone. Some phones have more radiation than others. To check the specific absorption rate (SAR) of your phone, go to www.cnet.com.””

My solution, the last that Dr. Douglass mentions, is just not to use a cell phone. This is a radical step. It means that when you want privacy, you can’’t be disturbed. It means you are not available for everyone’’s beck and call. It means you will be called a technophobic troglodyte. I love it.

I have resisted a cell phone many years. But to my embarrassment my wife, Susan, recently bought me one. Didn’’t even ask me, just bought one. Since cell phones have prompted removal of all pay phones, without a cell phone in an emergency you are sunk. However, I do not even know my cell phone number. Only my wife knows. And she’’s not telling.

Source: The Douglass Report, monthly, $74/year from 702 Cathedral St, Baltimore, MD 21201. Learn more from Dr. Douglass’ website.

Used by permission. Subscribe to the Moneychanger’s daily commentary by dropping your email address at Franklin’s website, the-moneychanger.com. Franklin Sanders is publisher of The Moneychanger, a privately circulated monthly newsletter that focuses on gold and silver and the application of Christianity to economics, culture and family life. We have subscribed to this newsletter for more than 20 years, and consider it a must read. F$149 a year. Franklin is a trader in gold and silver (he’ll swap your green Federal Reserve rectangles and give you real money in return). He trades with savers and investors outside Tennessee. F. Sanders, The Moneychanger, P.O. Box 178, Westpoint, Tenn. 38486 Tel. 888-218-9226.