Turn your phone off at the pump

I was pumping gas this morning about to make a phone call on my cell when I notice a sign that says 'warning, turn cell phones off at the pump'. I thought to myself "why, will it cause an explosion" I thought probably, that is the only reason they would have the warning. So I quickly tossed the phone into the car and sighed a breath of relief for the close call. Wouldn't want to blow myself up at the pump now would I?

So I wondered if there was truth to the warning and looked it up this morning. Here is what I found:
Warning: Cell phone use in gas stations
Cell Phones..... In case you do not know, there was an incident where a driver suffered burns and his car severely damaged when gasoline fumes ignited an explosion while he was talking on his mobile phone standing near the attendant who was pumping the gas. All the electronic devices in gas stations are protected with explosive containment devices, (intrinsically safe) while cell phones are not. READ YOUR HANDBOOK!

It also said this about your handy dandy portable talking device:
The news about cellular phones and public health just keeps on getting worse. Wired News reported the other day that cell phone emissions may cause genetic damage in humans and animals — the results of an industry-funded study. Those same emissions have been blamed by consumer groups for tumors, weakening of the immune system, increased blood pressure and memory loss.
No one quite knows what to make of a British study showing that people who are exposed to cell phone frequencies react to sensory stimuli faster than people who aren't. Is that good or bad?
Wired News also reports that cell phone emissions have been shown to cause nematode worm larvae to mature five percent faster than normal in laboratory experiments. That can't good, can it?
Not to be outdone by the press, Internet rumormongers are having a field day trumpeting cell phone warnings of a more incendiary kind. Email messages circulating since April 1999 warn that drivers who don't turn off their mobile phones while fueling their cars risk being blown to pieces in a gas vapor explosion.