Your Eyes and Cell Phone Damage

Many years ago, perhaps in the mid 90s, an attorney I know, and a HAM radio operator, was talking with me about EMF. He pointed out that for a very long time the FCC has had on its licensing exam a question regarding the fact that EMF (radio waves) are a known cause of cataract.

This article looks at the issue again and also points out the importance of keeping the cell phone as far away from you as possible.

This is the same concern in regard to cell phone effect on your thyroid gland and function.

Nutrients 4 Eye Health

Cell phones can damage eyes: Study
Prashant Rupera, TNN, Jun 23, 2010

VADODARA/ANAND: While scientists across the globe are still debating whether usage of cell phones results in heart diseases, a new study carried out by scientists at Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT) has revealed that mobile phones also affect eyes.

The scientists, who have studied the impact of electromagnetic waves on human eye, say that usage of mobile can also lead to early cataract in lens apart from affecting retina, cornea and other ocular systems of the eye.

"We are in ocean of electromagnetic signals and hundreds of signals are hitting human body every moment. It is affecting all our body parts, but we are not realising it," says professor Ved Vyas Dwivedi, head of department of ECE at CHARUSAT, who along with dean of the faculty of engineering and technology Y P Kosta and lecturer Dhara Patel carried out the study based on a mathematical model.

"The wavelength of wireless signals (which is about 2 to 2.5 cm) used for mobile phones and other wireless terminals matches with that received by the human eye. The dielectric constant (absorption capacity) of eye tissues is around 70 which is greater than unity (above 50). This means that the eye can absorb electromagnetic energy very quickly," explains Dwivedi.

During the study, scientists computed the specific absorption rate (SAR) and maximum temperature increase in the eye because of electromagnetic radio frequency fields generated by wireless terminals such as a mobile phones. SAR and temperature rise depend on the distance between eye and radio frequency transceiver (the mobile phone) and the angle between the line of sight and shortest normal path.

"The problem is not that the eye absorbs the energy, but that the heat absorbed by the eye does not get transmitted or radiated out of the body," says Dwivedi, adding that prolonged usage of mobile phones can affect retina, sclera, lens, cornea as well as vitreous humour which are parts of the human eye.

These scientists have also recommended that a mobile handset should be kept as far as possible from the eye. "It should not be used more than is necessary. A user should avoid use of mobile in rural areas or a car where the cell phone uses more power and the SAR value can be ten or hundred times higher than the normal," they suggest. This group of scientists is also planning to approach the government in collaboration with a hospital to get license to conduct tests on human to further study mobiles affect on human eye.

prashant.rupera@timesgroup.com
THE TIMES OF INDIA

SSRIs Can Lead to Cataract

More problems with this class of drugs, perhaps its time to rethink the problem of " depression"  and look for nutritional regeneration.  Safe and effective natural herbal remedies or homeopathy can also be of great help.

Cataracts From Antidepressants? Study: 22,000 U.S. Cataract Cases May Be Due to SSRI Antidepressants

By Daniel J. DeNoon, WebMD Health News

March 12, 2010 -- SSRI and SNRI antidepressants raise the risk of cataracts by about 15% -- enough to cause 22,000 extra cataract cases in the U.S.  each year, Canadian researchers suggest.

The study does not prove that antidepressants cause cataracts. And even if the finding is confirmed, the risk to an individual taking antidepressants is small.

But these widely prescribed drugs may pose a vision risk in elderly patients, suggest Mahyar Etminan, PharmD, and colleagues of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
"This study showed for the first time that SSRI use may be associated with an increase in the risk of cataracts," Etminan and colleagues conclude.
The researchers analyzed data collected from 18,784 cataract patients and 187,840 comparison patients between 1995 and 2004. All of the patients had heart disease and had undergone treatment for blocked arteries. Their average age was 73.
Only patients currently using antidepressants -- not those who had taken them in the past and stopped -- were at increased risk of cataracts. Even so, only 8.5% of cataract patients in the study had taken SSRI antidepressants at any time.
Not all SSRI antidepressants were found to increase cataract risk, although this may be because not enough people in the study were taking them for the researchers to detect a risk. Risk was found for three different antidepressants:

• Luvox raised cataract risk by 39%.
• Effexor raised cataract risk by 33%.
• Paxil raised cataract risk by 23%.
• Overall, use of any SSRI antidepressant raised cataract risk by 15%.

Assuming that 10% of Americans take SSRIs, that the increased risk is 15%, and that 1.5% of cataracts in the U.S. are caused by antidepressants, the researchers calculate that SSRIs may cause 22,000 extra cases of cataracts each year.

How Antidepressants Might Cause Cataracts

How could antidepressants cause cataracts?
SSRI antidepressants work by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain. (Effexor is not strictly an SSRI, as it boosts norepinephrine as well as serotonin. - NB from NHN: These are called SNRIs)
Etminan and colleagues note that the lens of the eye has serotonin receptors -- switches that activate cellular functions. Animal studies show that serotonin can make the lens of the eye more opaque and lead to cataracts.
If the Etminan findings are confirmed, SSRI antidepressants would not be the first drug to increase cataract risk. Oral and inhaled steroids and beta-blockers have also been linked to cataract formation.
The Etminan study appears in the March 7 online issue of Ophthalmology. Pfizer, the maker of Effexor, and Abbott, the maker of Luvox, were contacted for comment but were unable to reply in time for publication.