Cell Phones Pose ‘Possible’ Cancer Risk, Says World Health Organization

Scientists have debated the topic for years, but the recent announcement is the first time that the international health organization has placed cell phones, which are used by about five billion people worldwide, in a category reserved for things that are “possibly” cancer-causing.  Also in this category are pickled vegetables, coffee and car exhaust.

In reaching its conclusion, the World Health Organization looked at scientific studies conducted over a number of years. Even though many of the studies found no link between cancer and cell phones, a team of 31 scientists from 14 countries concluded there was enough evidence to say there was a “possible” link between cell phones and a rare form of brain cancer.

“The problem that we have is that the studies that tend to show no correlation tend to be studies that look at people that have had very short time periods of cell phone use and very low amounts of minutes of using a cell phone,” Dr. Keith Black, a neurosurgeon at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, told the NewsHour.
 
“The studies that do show a correlation tend to be studies that have looked at people that have used cell phones for a period of 10 years, for example, and are using cell phones, say, for 30 minutes a day, higher-term use.”

How does a cell phone work?

	According to the International Telecommunication Union, the number of cell phone subscriptions across the globe was about 5 billion in 2010,

Researchers are specifically looking at the link between cell phones and brain cancer because some of those invisible rays can enter the brain when people are holding cell phones near their head for long periods of time.

Radiation in high amounts, such as that emitted by nuclear power plants, can be very dangerous to humans and has been proven to cause cancer. However, microwave radiation is relatively low on the electromagnetic spectrum, meaning that it has more space between waves (longer wavelengths) and cannot penetrate human skin and organs as easily as radiation with smaller wavelengths. Radio waves have the longest wavelengths of all on the electromagnetic spectrum and are therefore the least dangerous to humans.

Carcinogens in the environment

	The American Cancer Society lists Chinese-style salted fish as a known human carcinogen.

For example, scientists have debated whether substances like coffee, alcohol, baby powder, pickled vegetables, wood dust, Chinese-style salted fish, charcoal and even charred foods can cause cancer.

Some of those are on the American Cancer Society’s list of known carcinogens, but for others, the cancer risk is uncertain and requires more research.

Cell phones have not been deemed a known carcinogen, but the World Health Organization announcement has placed their safety in question and further research will be conducted.

What should cell phone users do?

	Many scientists and researchers advise that people use hands-free devices to talk or use text messaging as much as possible

Dr. Keith Black told the NewsHour that he uses a cell phone but doesn’t put it next to his brain. He adds that although brain cancer is a devastating disease, the risk of contracting the disease is very small, even if cell phone use turns out to be risky.

“To put this in context for your viewers...the risk of developing brain cancer is about six per 100,000 in a population per year,” he said. “So, even if the risks were to double, you're looking at about 12 cases for 100,000 in the population.”