Ever heard the myth about not using your cell phone at a gas station as it may constitute a fire hazard? Well, if this video recently posted on YouTube bears scrutiny, it appears that static discharge from a womans cellphone did just that. Generally regarded as an urban myth, personally, I think the connection between petrol fumes and static electricity are pretty scientifically known and accepted.

Wired Magazine posted an article on this as early as three years ago linking static electricity and fire hazards in an attempt to explain some highly publicized cases or electronics related fires although the article does mention that the possibility is so slight as to be negligible. Urbanlegends echoes these sentiments so why bother writing about this?

Quite simply because cell phones and safety issues related to their usage grow increasingly important in our interconnected world. As cellphones gain dominance in our everyday lives, people will comment on their faults more and that's something to be aware off. Videos such as this could be used by vendors to differentiate their products from those of competitors or spurn "safely" related products which may or may not do what promised - the cell phone radiation shields being a prime example of this.  I will not argue that mobile phones are perfect as nothing is or can be, but common sense should prevail before all else.

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