Mobile phones are not linked to brain and head cancers, a comprehensive review of the highest quality available evidence commissioned by the World Health Organization has found.
The Link Between Cell Phones and Brain Cancer PHOTO Shutterstock
Led by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (Arpansa), the systematic review examined more than 5,000 studies from which the most scientifically rigorous were identified and weak studies were excluded, The Guardian reports.
The final analysis included 63 observational studies in humans published between 1994 and 2022, making it “the most comprehensive review to date,” said the review’s lead author, Associate Professor Ken Karipidis.
“We have concluded that the evidence does not show a link between mobile phones and brain cancer or other head and neck cancers.” the study shows.
Published on Wednesday, the review focused on cancers of the central nervous system (including brain, meninges, pituitary gland and ear), salivary gland tumors and brain tumors.
The review found no overall association between mobile phone use and cancer, no association with prolonged use (if people use their mobile phone for 10 years or more) and no association with amount of mobile phone use (number of calls made or time spent on the phone).
“I am quite confident in our conclusion. And what makes us pretty confident is … even though cell phone use has skyrocketed, brain tumor rates have remained stable.”said Karipidis, Arpansa’s deputy director for health impact assessment.
Cell phones – like anything that uses wireless technology, including laptops, radio and TV broadcasts, and cell phone towers – emit radio frequency electromagnetic radiation, also known as radio waves.
Karipidis, who is also vice president of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, said people hear the word radiation and assume it is similar to nuclear radiation.
“And because we use a cell phone close to our head when we make calls, there’s a lot of concernKaripidis said.
“Radiation is basically energy that travels from one point to another. There are many different types, for example, ultraviolet radiation from the sunhe said.
“We are always exposed to low-level radio waves in our everyday environment”.
While exposure from cellphones is still low, it’s much higher than exposure from any other source of wireless technology because phones are used close to the head, Karipidis said.
The association between the two things was erroneous
The link between cell phones and cancer emerged from early studies in which researchers looked at differences between a group of people with brain tumors and a separate group without cancer by asking both about their exposure history.
The results of this type of study tend to be skewed because while the tumor-free group provides good information, the tumor group tends to overreport their exposure, Karipidis said.
Based on some of these early studies showing that there could be a possible association with brain cancer as a result of using a mobile phone on the head for several hours, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the WHO designated the fields of radio frequency, such as that of mobile phones, as a possible cancer risk.
Karipidis said that while many members of the public have become concerned about the IARC classification, “this classification doesn’t mean that much.”
The IARC has different classifications of cancer risk, substances can be classified as carcinogens “certainly” (such as smoking) or as carcinogens “probably” or “pOSSIBLE“.
In 2011, in designating radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic, the WHO put them on an equal footing with hundreds of other agents for which evidence of harm is uncertain, such as aloe vera, pickled vegetables and dry cleaning.
However, at the time, some prominent doctors, such as Australian neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, publicly raised the profile of the IARC decision on mobile phones and cancer.
Since that classification, Karipidis said more cohort studies have been published that do not rely on people remembering their past exposure, and in 2019 the WHO commissioned a series of systematic reviews to look at the effects of radio waves on health.
Karipidis said another systematic review commissioned by the WHO that looked at male fertility and radio waves found no evidence of an association between phones and low sperm counts.
Another systematic review commissioned by the WHO that looked at female fertility found an association in certain scenarios, such as birth weight impairment, “however, this association occurred when exposure to radio waves was well above the safe limit”Karipidis said.
Tim Driscoll, a professor at the University of Sydney and chair of the Australian Cancer Council’s Occupational and Environmental Cancer Committee, said the methodology of the systematic review was sound and the researchers should be considered independent.
“I think people should feel reassured by this study … but it’s worth remembering that the studies aren’t perfect, but the weight of the evidence is certainly that mobile phones should be considered safe in terms of any concerns about increased risk of cancer”Driscoll said.
Karipidis and his colleagues are now working on the second part of the study, which will examine cancers less commonly associated with cell phones, including leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Karipidis said concerns about links between cell phones and cancer should disappear, but stressed that because the technology will continue to develop, it is important to continue research.
