When I was growing up, we didn’t always have a telephone and when my parents first got a telephone, it was a party line. For all of you younger people, a party line was when more than one phone shared the same phone line, however, only one phone could be in use a time. If one of the others on your party line were on a phone call, you were not able to receive a call nor were you able to call anyone else.

By the time I got married in 1971, party lines were slowly being phased out and most people had their own phone line. A decade later, most homes had a telephone but they were the rotary dialed phones that had to be physically connected to the phone lines.

Then mobile phones were invented, first in cars and then for carrying around but they were large, bulky and often had a limited range. Over the years, the technology behind cell phones went into overdrive until now, rather than asking someone if they have a cell phone, you should probably ask who doesn’t have a mobile or cell phone here in the United States?

In 2010, about 27% of Americans had mobile phones. By 2012, that was increased to 50.4% having mobile phones and then this year, it is estimated that 87.4% of Americans have a cell phone and that includes teenagers and a growing number of pre-teens.

We’re all familiar with the bright screens of our cell phones. Some are bright enough to light up your pathway when walking in the dark.

If you look carefully at the light emitted from most mobile phones, you will find that it is a blue-white light, similar to the growing number of LED light bulbs that are used everywhere and in everything.

You may have heard about some research suggesting that the electronic waves emitted by mobile phones may have health hazards but have you heard that the light from cell phones and LED lights may increase one’s risk of developing some cancers?

One group of researchers discovered that men living in large cities were twice as likely to have prostate cancer and that women living in large cities have a one and half greater chance of developing breast cancer. The researchers believe that the increased cancer risks come from the ‘blue’ light emitted by LED street lights and probably the same type of ‘blue’ light emitted from mobile phones.

Here is the theory behind their study. The ‘blue’ light emitted from LED lights and mobile phones is known to reduce the body’s level of melatonin, which plays an important role in maintaining your body’s internal clock. The disruption of the body’s internal clock disrupts normal sleeping patterns. When a person is asleep, the body produces certain hormones. Prostate and breast cancer has been shown to be linked to a decrease or lack of one of those hormones produced while you are asleep.

The more one is exposed to LED and mobile phone ‘blue’ light, the less melatonin is produced in the body, the less sleep, the less hormone production and the increased chance of developing prostate or breast cancer.

True, it seems like a series of domino effects but realize when the first domino is tipped, it keeps tipping others until it is disrupted or completes its task. When you think of it that way, their theory does not sound as farfetched.

Therefore, you may want to limit how much time you are exposed to LED or mobile phone light. Additionally, many mobile phones have a setting where you can turn off the ‘blue’ light, thus helping to reduce your exposure. I turned the ‘blue’ light off of my phone and suggest you do also. If you sit under a LED light a lot, consider changing the bulb out for something different. LED may be brighter, use less electricity but they may also be increasing your risk of cancer. Your choice.