No cancer danger from mobile phones, research concludes
A review of 28 years of research has shown that mobile phones and wireless tech devices are not linked to increased risk of cancer, as the radio waves they emit do not contain enough energy to damage the human body or DNA.
Wireless technology is a significant part of our daily lives, so healthcare and government agencies are still addressing their safety.
Lagorio, S et al declared in a scientific article on “The effect of exposure to radiofrequency fields on cancer risk in the general and working population: A protocol for a systematic review of human observational studies” showing that overall data overwhelmingly shows that using mobile phones and wireless tech is completely safe for our bodies.
The review which was commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) and published in Environment International puts paid to speculations that electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones and wireless technologies is dangerous.
Whereas researchers continue monitoring for any potential long-term health risks of using phones, it is established that the radio waves wireless technologies transmit are very weak, do not have enough energy to damage DNA and are very unlikely to cause cancer.
The new study which is the largest review on the topic to date falls into existing heap of findings that shows that wireless technologies do not harm the human body.
Co-author in the study, Mark Elwood, of the University of Auckland in Australia, stated: “For the main issue, mobile phones and brain cancers, we found no increased risk, even with 10+ years exposure and the maximum categories of call time or number of calls.”
The review, which stemmed from concerns that phones held against the head emit radio waves into the brain, analyzed more than 5,000 studies, focusing on 63 studies from 22 countries most relevant for their analysis.
“For this report, cancers of the brain (three types, and in children), pituitary gland, salivary glands, and leukemias were included,” said Elwood.
He said none of the studies assessed in the review showed an increased risk of brain cancer with mobile phone use.
Keith Petrie of the Department of Psychological Medicine at University of Auckland, Australia, declared in a press statement that, “The evidence did not support an increased risk of cancers from the use of mobile phones. Furthermore, there was no evidence to support any risk from broadcasting transmitters or base stations.”
Mobile phones and wireless tech exchange signals using radiofrequency (RF) waves. This is a form of energy in the electromagnetic spectrum, which is why mobile phones are sometimes said to give off electromagnetic radiation.
The danger of electromagnetic radiation however depends on how much energy the radiation contains, scientists explain.
Radiofrequency waves that mobile phone networks use are a form of non-ionizing radiation which uses tiny amounts of energy to transmit data, nowhere near enough energy to damage the human body or DNA (genes).
This truth applies to all types of mobile phone networks including WiFi, 4G, 5G, Bluetooth that rely on radio waves to transmit data just as FM radios do. Each type uses a different frequency of radio waves, but none have enough energy to heat body tissues or damage cells or DNA.
Radiofrequency waves are different from ionizing types of radiation, such as X-rays, gamma rays, and ultraviolet (UV) rays which contain much more energy and can damage DNA. This also explains why high levels of sun exposure can cause skin cancers.
There are also concerns that keeping a phone in your pocket or leaving the WiFi router on might be dangerous, but these myths have been debunked for the same reason: radio waves don’t cause cancer.
When we stand outside on a cloudy day, we are actually exposed to more DNA-damaging rays than we get from having a mobile phone in our pocket or leaving the WiFi router on at night, scientists say.
Worries about the health effects of new technologies are common, especially when online conspiracy theories are involved.
“This was seen during the COVID-19 pandemic when people attacked cell towers believing a baseless theory that 5G towers spread the coronavirus,” said Petrie.
The evidence is clear that the radio waves mobile phones and wireless technology emit don’t have enough energy to damage the body directly.
The scientific consensus has remained so strong that, so far, no studies have found links between mobile phone use and cancer.
