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Dial F for Fear

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IS YOUR hair drier killing you? Think about it. Every time you use it, you expose your head to a prolonged blast of heat. And an electromagnetic field. Have the manufacturers done the research needed to prove there is no risk of brain cancer or memory loss? Did you think to check?

Perhaps you've been too busy worrying about the pesticides in your food or your sperm count or whether it's safe to let your kid walk to school. We live in fearful times where the pursuit of personal safety has become a religion, and risks seem to lurk everywhere. The shining symbol of this new era is the mobile phone.

A decade ago, mobiles were big and clumsy, and people worried only about the ballooning bills and the embarrassment of a warbling cellphone going off in a hushed theatre. Now mobiles are svelte fashion items and it's the fears ...

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