Move over swine flu, cell phones may become the next big scare.

Over the past few weeks, Americans have been anxiously racing to get the flu vaccine. Drug stores have been overcrowded with lines two hours long as Americans stand (and sometimes sit) in their frenzy to avoid the flu. If you are among the group of people tired of panicking over the flu outbreak and looking for something new (and less time-consuming) to worry about, the killer cell phone issue might be for you.

Despite the years of denial by cell phone manufacturers, the World Health Organization will soon be publishing a 10-year study showing that heavy cell phone use has been linked to three types of brain tumors (glioma, meningioma and acoustic neuroma) and parotid salivary gland tumors. Granted, since cell phones use radiation, it probably should have occurred to us that holding a radiated object to our heads may not be the best idea in the world. However, when I learned that cell phones use the same type of radiation as microwaves, I was horrified.

Being a heavy cell phone user myself, I felt as though I had just discovered my best friend was a deranged serial killer. My horror only deepened when I started to think about all those other cell phone addicts (let’s face it, they’re not called crackberries for no reason). According to InjuryBoard.com, there are, in fact, 4 billion cell users worldwide and 270 million users in the United States who could be affected by these results.

As I sat in front of my laptop contemplating these cold facts, I could not help but feel a sense of deja vu, because not all that long ago cigarette companies were standing in the very shoes of cell phone companies. I guess it’s safe to say cells are the new cigs. For years, cigarette manufacturers denied that cigarettes were health hazards. According to the Boston University Medical Center, it was not until 1964, when the surgeon general’s report on “Smoking and Health” was published, that the United States government began regulate the advertisement and sale of cigarettes.

However, cell phone manufacturers have one advantage over cigarette manufacturers: While cigarettes are a luxury many Americans enjoy, they are not as vital to the American lifestyle. Cell phones, due to the ease through which we can instantly communicate, have become vital in our society; it is the rare person who does not have a cell phone. Thus, at this point in time, while it would be great, it is impossible to completely terminate the use of cell phones.

There is hope, however. Ear pieces are safe to use, since they do not emit radiation; it is only direct head-cell phone contact that has proved hazardous. If we limit our cell phone usage and try to use landlines to make calls, we lower the risk of brain tumors, too.

While these changes might be annoying and at times inconvenient, they definitely seem worth making. There are cooler ways to die than by cell phone.