By B.N. Frank

People believe what they want to believe.  This has never not been true.

Some people still believe that cigarettes are not harmful to their health.  In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Singer/Songwriter, John Mellencamp talked with Jane Pauley about smoking:

JOHN MELLENCAMP: Well, I — okay. Look, don’t forget. I had a heart attack when I was 42. But it was high cholesterol and cigarettes. Rightfully or wrongfully, I think I’m offsetting my cigarette consumption by exercising. That’s why I’ve got to exercise. Rightfully or wrongfully, I believe that it’s the combination of cigarettes and alcohol that gets people. The two of them combined. My grandfather did not drink but he smoked, and he lived to be 80. He never exercised, but he was a carpenter. I think it’s the drinking, and the smoking, and the drugging that gets people. I’ve never taken drugs. You know, in the early ’70s, you know, maybe smoked some pot. Other than that, nothing.

JANE PAULEY: And drinking?

JOHN MELLENCAMP: Yeah, I drank. I got beat up one night at college. I started a fight. I was in a bar and this guy beat the s*** out of me. I mean, I was unrecognizable to myself. And I woke up the next morning, and my face — I looked like Quasimodo. And I just said, “You know, this drinking and drugging is not working for me.” And I have not touched a drink or a drug since that morning other than cigarettes.

One of John’s best known songs is “The Authority Song.”  “I fight the authority, the authority always wins.”  Even now when I hear it, I can’t help but sing along and shake my middle aged groove thing.

John is now 66 years old.  If he wants to smoke, there’s no law that says he can’t do so on his own property.  Maybe he will live to be 80 just like his grandfather.  Who knows.

In 2011, the World Health Organization classified cell phone and wireless (WiFi) radiation as a possible carcinogen.  Of course not everyone is going to get cancer from exposure to wireless (WiFi) radiation.  Not everyone who smokes cigarettes will get cancer either.  Some may get other illnesses like asthma, COPD, emphysema.

In 2012, scientists published research stating cell phone and other sources of wireless (WiFi) radiation disrupts the Blood-Brain Barrier which can cause it to leak:

Researchers in 13 other laboratories in 6 different countries had reported the same effect, but no one had proven whether it would lead to any damage in the long term. In a study published June 2003 in Environmental Health Perspectives, Salford’s team repeated the experiment on 32 additional animals, but this time waited eight weeks before sacrificing them and examining their brains. In those animals that had been exposed to a cell phone, up to two percent of the neurons in all areas of the brain were shrunken and degenerated.

In 2016, scientists at the Mayo Clinic discovered that texting on a cell phone creates new brain waves:

There is now a biological reason why people shouldn’t text and drive — texting can change brain waves.

Many scientists over several decades have published research proving that various health conditions are caused or worsened by exposure to cell phone and wireless “WiFi” radiation.

Research has also shown that pets and wildlife are also harmed by exposure to cell phone and wireless (WiFi) radiation.

Personal wireless (WiFi) radiation emitting products and other electronic devices come with guidelines.  If there was no reason for concern, there would be no reason for guidelines or safety testing which involves plastic mannequin heads and body parts based on a replica of a 220 pound military man.

For many years already, tech inventors have deliberately kept these devices away from their own kids even sending them to private “low-tech” schools.  Maybe this is because no “Safe” level of cell phone or wireless (WiFi) radiation has been scientifically determined for children or pregnant women.

Even so, these devices are being marketed as educational for children.  PBS’s Sesame Street features a character named, “Smarty, The Smart Phone.”

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but scientists have also determined that tech isn’t making all of us desirable or virile either.

Regulations for new technology were created 20+ years ago before there was so much of it being used everywhere by everyone and all the time.  It doesn’t take a scientist to conclude that regulations, guidelines, and safety testing should have been updated a long time ago.

Former Microsoft Canada president, Frank Clegg, is now with Citizens for Safe Technology.  He stated:

Just as we cannot yet explain why some individuals will die from second-hand smoke and others can live a long life smoking 2 packs a day, we cannot explain why some individuals react to wireless radiation.” (Source: Vitality Magazine)

A week or so ago, I was talking with my mom about all the information coming out right now about cell phones and other wireless, digital, and electronic products being harmful.  She said this has always been the case with new products.  Unfortunately it also always takes several years before these products are finally recognized as being harmful and no one tries to dispute it anymore.  Only then can we clean up the mess.

I have thought and said the same thing many times.  History is simply repeating itself.

Neither of us are scientists, however, both of us can read and quote scientists when we feel like it.