CELL PONES CLEARED OF CANCER RISK – A comprehensive World Health Organization review of 63 studies has found no evidence linking mobile phone use to an increased risk of brain, head, or neck cancers. Although cell towers weren’t directly assessed in the review, the findings suggest no concern, as mobile phones emit higher radiation when held close to the body than nearby cell towers or cell sites.
The Federal Communications Commission is frequently accused of taking what some people believe is an industry-backed supportive role in minimizing cancer risks from cell phone RF exposure. The agency acknowledges that “some experimental data have suggested a possible link between exposure and tumor formation in animals under certain conditions.”
However, they’re insistent that many other studies have failed to find evidence for a link to cancer or any related condition.
For many years, the FCC has championed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ongoing program to monitor and review research and make recommendations regarding the safety of mobile phones.
The FCC’s belief that exposure to RF from a cell phone does not cause cancer was well founded and is now supported by a comprehensive systematic review commissioned by WHO that was released this week. The study found no evidence linking mobile phone use to increased brain, head, or neck cancer risk.
The review, published in the journal Environment International, offers the most substantial evidence to date that radio waves from mobile phones and other wireless technologies do not pose a hazard to human health.
The widespread use of mobile phones, often held against the head during calls, and their emission of radio waves, a form of non-ionizing radiation, has led to long-standing concerns about potential health effects, particularly cancer. However, this review reassures the public that there is no association between mobile phone use and brain cancer, aligning with the broader scientific consensus that has been building for years.
The concern over the potential health effects of mobile phones emerged as they became integral to daily life. In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the WHO, classified radio waves as a “possible carcinogen” based on limited evidence from human observational studies.
This classification led to increased public concern, but it was misunderstood, with many studies showing biased results based on inaccurate self-reporting of mobile phone use by individuals with brain cancer.
The new review, which analyzed a much larger and more recent data set compared to the IARC’s 2011 assessment, reinforces the conclusion that radio waves from mobile phones do not increase the risk of brain cancer.
The review considered over 5,000 studies, with 63 selected for final analysis, spanning research conducted from 1994 to 2022. Importantly, it found no association between mobile phone use, regardless of duration or frequency, and brain cancer or any other head and neck cancers.
Although thousands of studies were excluded from the final analysis, the main reason was that they were deemed not relevant, which is typical for systematic reviews of any nature.
However, anti-5G zealots will continue to cling to articles such as How the FCC Shields Cellphone Companies from Safety Concerns by ProPublica, which frequently alluded to cell phones causing cancer.
The findings are particularly significant given the massive rise in the use of mobile phones and wireless technologies in recent decades. Despite this increased exposure, the incidence of brain cancer has not risen, further supporting the conclusion that mobile phones do not pose a cancer risk.
The results provide robust evidence that the radio waves emitted by mobile phones and other wireless devices are not harmful, easing the concerns of those concerned about these technologies’ safety.