“Largest Study on Cell Phones and Cancer Finds No Link”, Associated Press, Time, October 21, 2011 This article talks about how cell phones are not linked to cancer. According to Danish researchers, the biggest study ever consisting of 350,000 people found no evidence of any link. This concluded that people who have used a cell phone for a decade don’t have different cancer rates than those who have not. Last year, a different study found no connection between cell phones and cancer. But it showed a possible connection between heavy phone usage and glioma, a brain tumor that is rare but deadly.
However, this information was not enough to support the case. That study of over 14,000 people in many countries, along with animal experiments, led to classifying electromagnetic energy from cell phones as possibly carcinogenic along with coffee and gasoline engine exhaust. But cell phones don’t issue the same radiation that is used in medical tests or found in radon soil so there might not be a risk. The Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communications Commission have no evidence of cell phones being linked to cancer but people still have fears of getting it, although cancer rates have not risen since cell phones were introduced.
Researchers have updated a recent study examining 358,403 cell phones users 30 years of age and older in Denmark from 1990 to 2007. They found that cell phone users did not have a higher risk of cancer than those without them. Cell phone users also aren’t more likely to develop a tumor in a part of the brain where phones are held against the head. About three-quarters of the world’s population use a cell phone. This makes it difficult for scientists to compare cancer rates between users and non-users.
The advocacy group MobileWise said that the Danish study wasn’t enough to consider the long-term risk since brain tumors can take decades to develop. In about 30 other studies, those with brain tumors have not reported using their cell phones more than those who are unaffected. Cell phones send signals to nearby towers through radio waves but radiation produced by cell phones can’t damage DNA and is different from stronger types of radiation such as ultraviolet light. At high levels, radio frequency waves from cell phones can heat up body tissue, but it doesn’t damage human cells.
This article relates to a few things we have covered in class. Carcinogens, brain tumors, and radon are things we have discussed and are mentioned in this article. Carcinogens, such as tobacco smoke are environmental factors that cause cancer (Human Biology, pg. 286). Cell phone usage is labeled as possibly carcinogenic since it is an environmental factor but has no link to cancer yet. Brain tumors are a group of cancer cells that can be benign-don’t expand, or malignant-do expand (Human Biology, pg. 282).
According to the studies mentioned, people with brain tumors have not used their cell phones more than those that don’t have brain tumors. However, MobileWise stated that tumors can take decades to develop. Electromagnetic energy is found in cell phones and is possibly carcinogenic. This is divided into different sections depending on wavelengths of the light energy/radiation (Human Biology, pg. 289). But cell phones don’t have the same radiation found in radon so there could be no risk at all. Overall, cell phones should not be a concern for developing cancer until more research showing that is can has been conducted.