A systematic review of the potential health effects of exposure to radio waves has found that mobile phones have no link to brain cancer. The review was conducted by the World Health Organisation and is published today in the journal Environment International.
Mobile phones are often held close to the head during use. And they emit radio waves, which is a type of non-ionizing radiation. These two factors are primarily the reason for the idea that mobile phones can cause brain cancer.
The potential for mobile phones to cause cancer has long been a concern. Mobile phones – and wireless technology more broadly – are a major part of our daily lives. So addressing the safety of exposure to radio waves from these devices has been important for science.
For years, the scientific consensus has been strong – there is no link between mobile phone radio waves and brain cancer or health in general.
Radiation is a potential carcinogen
Despite this consensus, there have occasionally been published research studies that suggest the potential for harm.
In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified exposure to radio waves as a possible carcinogen to humans. The meaning of this classification was largely misunderstood and led to some concern.
The IARC is part of the World Health Organization. Classifying radio waves as potential carcinogens was based primarily on limited evidence from human observational studies. Also known as epidemiological studies, these studies look at the rate of disease and its causes in human populations.
Observational studies are the best tool researchers have for examining long-term health effects on humans, but the results can often be biased.
The IARC classification was based on previous observational studies in which people with brain cancer reported using a mobile phone more than they actually did. One example of this is known as the Interphone study.
This new systematic review of human observational studies is based on a much larger data set than those examined by IARC in 2011.
This includes more recent and more comprehensive studies. This means we can now be more confident that exposure to radio waves from mobile phones or wireless technology does not increase the risk of brain cancer.
No relation
This new review is part of a series of systematic reviews conducted by the World Health Organization to look more closely at the potential health effects associated with exposure to radio waves.
This systematic review presents the strongest evidence to date that radio waves emitted from wireless technologies are not hazardous to human health.
This is the most comprehensive review on the topic – it considered over 5,000 studies, of which 63 studies published between 1994 and 2022 were included in the final analysis. The main reason studies were excluded was that they were not actually relevant; this is very common with search results from systematic reviews.
No link was found between mobile phone use and brain cancer, or any other head or neck cancers.
There was no link with cancer if a person used a mobile phone for ten or more years (long-term use). How often they used it – whether in terms of the number of calls or the time spent on the phone – also did not make a difference.
Importantly, these findings match previous research, which shows that, although the use of wireless technologies has increased enormously over the past few decades, there has been no corresponding increase in the incidence of brain cancer.
a good thing
Overall, the results are very reassuring. They mean that our national and international safety limits are protective. Mobile phones emit radio waves at levels below these safety limits, and there is no evidence that exposure to them has any effect on human health.
Despite this, it is important that research continues. Technology is rapidly evolving. With this development comes the use of radio waves in different ways using different frequencies. So it is essential that science continues to ensure that radio wave exposure from these technologies is safe.
The challenge we now face is to ensure that this new research counters the persistent misconceptions and misinformation surrounding the link between mobile phones and brain cancer.
There is no evidence of any established health effects from mobile phone-related exposure, and that’s a good thing.
Sarah Loughran, Director of Radiation Research and Advice, Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), and Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Wollongong and Ken Karipidis, Assistant Director of Health Effects Assessment, Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), and Adjunct Associate Professor (Practice), School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
