Lightning? Don’t Call Anyone to Tell Them About It

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

There have been previous stories about health risks associated with cell phones, including the radiation they produce as well as the increase in auto accidents associated with their use. It’s also been known that if you’re in a lightning storm, you’d better hang up that landline phone. It looks like you’d better toss your cell phone away at the same time, if you’re outdoors.

(Swinda) Esprit and other doctors at the hospital (Northwick Park Hospital in England) added in a letter to the British Medical Journal that usually when someone is struck by lightning, the high resistance of the skin conducts the flash over the body in what is known as a flashover.

But if a metal object, such as a phone, is in contact with the skin it disrupts the flashover and increases the odds of internal injuries and death. Source: Reuters

We Say: In contact with the skin? I’m wondering if this means that if I have it in a holster and it’s touching part of my body, that’s enough, as opposed to actually have to use it. Flashover incidents usually have a low incidence of mortality, so anything you could be doing to disrupt flashover (maybe even watches or keys) could be deadly.