Scientists Determine Once and for all If Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer
A new review of previous research determines if cell phone radiation causes brain cancer.
The review concludes that radiation from cell phones is not likely to increase a person’s risk of brain cancer.
Researchers found that despite the large increase in the use of wireless technology in the past two decades, there has not been a corresponding increase in brain cancer.
Over the last 10 years, you may have heard rumblings about whether the radio waves emitted from your cell phone are capable of causing cancer. Now, a new review commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) sets the record straight on if cell phones cause cancer.
A systematic review published in Environment International examined over 5,000 studies published between 1994 and 2022, ultimately including 63 in its final analysis. The review focused on studies of brain cancer and other cancers of the central nervous system—including glioma, meningioma, acoustic neuroma, pituitary tumors, and more.
Researchers reported that despite the large increase in the use of wireless technology in the past two decades, there has not been a corresponding increase in brain cancer, as well as no link with prolonged (a decade or more) cell phone use or amount of cell phone use (number of calls made or time spent on the device).
They also found no increased risks of either brain cancer or leukemia in kids who were exposed to phone towers, radio transmitters, or T.V. transmitters.
This report pushed back on the 2013 decision of the WHO’s cancer agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to classify exposure to radio waves as possibly carcinogenic, or cancer-causing. However, despite the distress the decision caused, this classification doesn’t carry much significance. This rating is just one of the IARC’s several classifications of cancer risk, which range from “definite” carcinogens, like smoking tobacco, to “possible,” where radio waves reside alongside the use of substances like aloe vera.
At the time, the IARC’s decision to classify exposure to radio waves from your phone as possibly leading to increased cancer risk “was largely based on limited evidence from human observational studies,” Ken Karipidis, review author and associate professor with Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency’s (ARPANSA), said in a statement.
“This systematic review of human observational studies is based on a much larger dataset compared to that examined by the IARC, that also includes more recent and more comprehensive studies, so we can be more confident that exposure to radio waves from wireless technology is not a human health hazard,” Karipidis said in the statement.
According to Daniel Landau, M.D., board-certified hematologist and oncologist at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, this study confirms what many have suspected. “The type of radiation that comes from cell phones is what’s known as non-ionizing. The more dangerous types of radiation, such as the ones that come from nuclear bombs or other nuclear material, are ionizing.” Ionizing radiation causes DNA damage, and cancer can develop as a result, he explains.
The bottom line
In May 2011, IARC classified radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) as possibly carcinogenic to humans, notes Nelly Awkar-Lazo, M.D., board-certified hematologist and oncologist with The Oncology Institute of Hope and Innovation. However, “This systematic review of multiple studies showed that mobile phone use likely does not increase the risk of brain cancer, including gliomas, meningiomas, and acoustic neuromas,” she explains.
“We thought that a clear link would have emerged by now if there truly was a relationship between cell phones and cancer risk,” says Dr. Landau. However, he would still recommend limiting cell phone use, or at least trying to avoid having cell phones close to our heads for prolonged periods of time. “There may be other risks that the study did not pick up on, some of which may not be cancer, [but] I do feel that a study like this offers us reassurance,” Dr. Landau points out.
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