New Paper Says Evidence "Increasingly Against" Cell Phone Cancer Risk
New Paper Says Evidence "Increasingly Against" Cell Phone Cancer Risk
Posted 07/05/2011 at 11:49am
| by Ryan Whitwam
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It was just two months ago that the WHO decided to reclassify cell phones as “potentially carcinogenic”, calling for increased scrutiny. A new review of available evidence published on Saturday aims to clarify the situation. The paper, authored by cancer experts from the US, UK, and Sweden finds that the evidence is “increasingly against” a link between mobile phone use and cancer.
It is important to note this is not a new study, but rather an analysis of all previous studies along with increased scrutiny of their methodology. Some well-publicized studies were found to hold up poorly on their own, but when taken together, a pattern emerged. Multiple studies over recent years have failed to find an increase in tumors up to 20 years after cell phones reached a community.
The group also found no compelling evidence for any biological mechanism whereby radio frequency radiation from a phone could produce cancer. This is far from the final word, but a scientific consensus may be emerging that is in favor of the safety of mobile devices.
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Ghok
July 05, 2011 at 11:59pm
My sister died of brain cancer in her early twenties. This is a subject close to me. She used a cell phone a lot. Someone who is otherwise healthy developing a brain cancer at such a young age is hard to swallow. But that doesn't mean it was cell phones that caused it. It also really doesn't mean that cell phones cause it in everyone. I'd say at worst, maybe certain people are predisposed to getting it. I just don't know. I've followed a lot of studies, and they have never really found anything. To me that's a pretty big indicator that they aren't affecting us in that way.
At the same time, people who easily dismiss the idea should be aware that no matter how smart we think we are, there's always the chance of unintended consequences in virtually everything we do. Humans have been wrong about plenty of things we thought we were really sure of.
nmanguy
July 05, 2011 at 6:56pm
Alright, I'm not a master of Quantum Physics, but microwave radiation is non-ionizing, so how could it cause cancer? Wouldn't the worst it could do be heating you up? Now, if it heated up your brain, I'd be more worried about that than cancer.
compro01
July 07, 2011 at 7:52am
Heat can damage DNA just as well as ionizing radiation.
But cellphones are so low power, it's highly doubtful they heat enough to do anything meaningful.
Steve Stone
July 05, 2011 at 6:22pm
Who paid for this "new" study? Are they affiliated with the cellphone industry?
Inquiring minds want to know.
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