Cell phone usage has grown by quantum leaps since 1977, when cell phones were first tested in Chicago. It is a multibillion-dollar-a-year industry, with hundreds of millions of customers worldwide. There is no question that cell phones make life easier for users. But as with virtually all modern technology, convenience comes with a price to pay in environmental damage.

What makes cell phones so dangerous? They emit radiation and contain toxic components, like cadmium. Just one cadmium battery has the potential to contaminate 132,000 gallons of water. The good news is that cadmium is now being phased out of some batteries. But that still leaves toxins such as lead, beryllium, brominated flame retardant, antimony, arsenic, copper and zinc to damage the environment.

One of the constituents of cell phones, a metallic ore called coltan, is used to make capacitors for cell phones. Eighty percent of the global coltan supply is found in the forest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. This area also happens to be the home of the highly endangered eastern lowland gorilla.

Congo's coltan mining boom has led to a reduction of animal habitat in general as well as unbridled slaughter of great apes in the illegal but often tolerated bush-meat trade. Illegal minors have poured into protected animal parks to mine the valuable mineral as well as to hunt and kill the animals in the region. Fortunately, prices for coltan have gone down considerably since the beginning of the boom in 2000, and fewer miners are trying to get in on the action.

The mysterious disappearing honeybees in the U.S. and Europe which are necessary to pollinate vegetable and fruit crops have also been blamed on cell phones, although many scientists and beekeepers now say it is probably incorrect to blame cell phone radiation. The argument is that bees find their way around by landmarks, not by radar, and cell phones should not interfere with their navigation systems.

Although it is difficult to establish a cause and effect for cancer, since it usually takes decades to develop, a Finnish study found that users of cell phones for more than ten years were 40% more likely to develop a brain tumor on the same side they used the handset. Another Swedish study suggested that cell phone radiation destroys brain cells. Indian and U.S. researchers claim that men who use cell phones have lower sperm counts.

Another serious environmental problem is that cell

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