There is no link between mobile phone use and brain cancer – regardless of how much time you spend on your device – according to a new review commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO).
A systematic review, published in Environment Internationalfound that while the use of cell phones and other wireless technologies has increased dramatically over the past two decades, there has been no increase in the incidence of brain or other types of head and neck cancer.
The review not only found no specific link between cell phone use and brain cancer, but also found no link with prolonged (a decade or more) cell phone use or amount (number of calls made or time spent on the device) of mobile phone use.
The study also found no increased risk of brain cancer or leukemia in children exposed to telephone towers, radio or TV transmitters.
According to Ken Karipidis, an associate professor at the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) who led the review, it is “the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the evidence to date.”
Karipidis and other experts reviewed more than 5,000 studies published between 1994 and 2022, ultimately including 63 in their final analysis, and focused on brain and other central nervous system cancers — including gliomas, meningiomas, acoustic neuromas, tumors pituitary gland and more.
Stock photo of children using cell phones.
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The review overturned a 2013 decision by the WHO’s cancer agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), to classify exposure to radio waves as possibly carcinogenic — which, despite the concerns it raised, “doesn’t mean all that much,” Karipidis said. The Guardian.
It is one of several IARC cancer risk classifications, ranging from “definitely” carcinogenic like smoking tobacco to “possible,” where radio waves are found alongside substances like aloe vera.
In a statement, Karipidis said the IARC’s decision was “largely based on limited evidence from human observational studies” — not to mention that many more relevant studies have emerged in the 11 years since.
The newly published review “is based on a much larger set of data compared to the one examined by IARC, which also includes more recent and comprehensive studies, so we can be more confident that exposure to radio waves from wireless technology is not a risk to human health,” Karipidis said in declare.
He also said that much of the early research into whether radio waves are carcinogenic relied on comparing the responses of people with brain cancer to those without — which can be “somewhat biased,” he told The Washington Post.
An individual with a brain tumor, he said, “wants to know why he has a brain tumor and tends to overreport his exposure,” while larger cohort studies have shown no such associations.
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With the new review turning IARC’s classification on its head, Karipidis said The Guardian that he is “quite convinced” of the review’s conclusion.
“And what makes us pretty confident is … even though cell phone use has skyrocketed, brain tumor rates have remained stable,” he added.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education