Mobile Phone and Cancer Risk, An Interesting Article

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Scientific evidence so far shows that using mobile phones doesn’t increase your risk of any type of cancer.

What does the evidence say?

The largest study so far on mobile phones and cancer is a Danish study, which looked at over 420,000 people. It found no link between mobile phones and any type of cancer including brain cancers and leukaemia. Even people who had been using their phones for 10 years or more did not have increased risks.




The vast majority of other studies have also found that mobile phones do not increase the risk of cancer.

A few studies have found that people with brain cancer are more likely to develop the disease on the side of the head that they hold their phone to. But they also had lower risks of developing the disease on the opposite side of their head.

This strange result is most likely to be down to chance or inaccuracies. The problem is that these studies ask people with cancer to remember how they used their phones, often many years ago. Their memories may be biased if they had previously heard about a connection between phones and cancer in the media.

Research in this field is still ongoing and Cancer Research UK will continue to look for any new evidence.

Mobile phones and cancer incidence

The use of mobile phones has skyrocketed since the 1980s. But studies in the USA and New Zealand have found that during this time, the numbers of people with brain cancer has not changed very much.

Is the radiation from mobile phones dangerous?

Mobile phones transmit and receive microwave radiation. The energy from microwave radiation is millions of times lower than that the energy from an X-ray.

This radiation does not have enough energy to damage DNA, and cannot directly cause cancer.

Mobile phones also produce small amounts of heat in the brain, but again, not enough to pose a health risk.

In 2000, the UK signed up to a set of international safety standards, which set a limit on the amount of radiation given off by phones. These limits are designed to have a very large safety margin to protect people who may be more sensitive to phone radiation, such as children.

Recently, a study found that mobile phone radiation caused laboratory cells to produce proteins called ERK1 and ERK2. These are involved in cell division and they are found at high levels in some cancers.

But we don’t know whether this could affect the risk of cancer. In this study, the two proteins were only produced for a short period of time. In actual tumours, ERK1 and 2 are activated strongly and for a long time. We also don’t know if these effects in isolated cells would happen in our actual bodies, where many other things affect the levels of these proteins.

Base stations

Mobile phone base stations are unlikely to increase your cancer risk either. The exposure you would get from a base station is usually a hundred times or more below international guidelines. And it is much less than the exposure you would get from a phone.

There is a health risk…

So far, the only proven health issue associated with mobile phones is an increased risk of car accidents! People who use mobile phones while driving, even with a hands-free kit, are easily distracted and are four times more likely to be involved in an accident.

Taking precautions

Mobile phones are a recent invention. So far, studies have indicated that using these phones for about 10 years is safe. But we cannot be completely sure about their long-term effects.

Until we get a conclusive answer, the Government recommends that people take precautions. It advises mobile phone users to keep their call times short. And children under the age of 16 should only use mobile phones for essential calls, because their head and nervous systems may still be developing.

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And Another good Article about this:

Heavy Use of Mobile Phones Increases Cancer Risk, Study Finds

Heavy users of wireless mobile phones face increased risks of developing severe brain tumors, according to the most comprehensive study ever conducted on the possible link between cancer and the long-term use of cellular telephones. Researchers at the Swedish National Institute for Working Life and the University of Oerebro compared the mobile phone use of 4,400 people—half of them cancer patients, and the other half healthy people who made up the control group—and made some disturbing discoveries.

Heavy Mobile Phone Use Increases Cancer Risk
According to Kjell Hansson Mild, who led the study, heavy users of mobile phones have a 240 percent increased risk of developing a malignant tumor on the side of the head where they press the phone to their ear.

Published in the International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, the study defines “heavy use” as 2,000 hours of mobile phone use in the course of a decade, which “corresponds to 10 years’ use in the work place for one hour per day.”

Of the 2,200 cancer patients in the study, who ranged in age from 20 to 80 years old, 905 had a malignant brain tumor and just under one-tenth of that number were heavy mobile phone users.

“Of these 905 cases, 85 were so-called high users of mobile phones, that is they began early to use mobile and/or wireless telephones and used them a lot,” said the authors of the study in a statement issued by the Institute.

In addition, the study concluded that early users, defined as people who started using a mobile phone before age 20, are also at greater risk of developing a malignant brain tumor.

The study also took into account factors such as smoking habits, working history and exposure to other known cancer-causing agents.

Limit Mobile Calls and Use Handsfree Options
Hansson Mild advised that the best ways for consumers to lower their risk of cancer related to mobile phones are to use their wireless phones less frequently and to use handsfree options when they do make or receive mobile calls. He said the research report about the study is not intended to cause public alarm or to raise concerns about widespread risk for the majority of people who use mobile phones.

“It does however give reason to use caution when calling on wireless phones,” he said in an interview with Dow Jones. “Use handsfree and avoid wireless when possible.”

Swedish Study Breaks New Ground
The Swedish study is the first to show a significant link between long-term mobile phone use and cancer. Previous studies found no evidence that radiation from mobile phones is harmful, but those earlier studies looked at mobile phone use among fewer people over a shorter time.

The Swedish study is the largest and most comprehensive to date. Also, people in Sweden have been using mobile phones since 1984, longer than people in many other countries, so getting a large sample of people who have been using cellular telephones for a long time was relatively easy.

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  1. One Response to “Mobile Phone and Cancer Risk, An Interesting Article”

  2. By Marietta Calvello on Dec 17, 2011 | Reply

    Thank you, I have recently been searching for information about this topic for ages and yours is the greatest I have discovered till now. But, what about the bottom line? Are you sure about the source?

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