Cell Phone Brain Cancer: Is It a Reality?

As cell phones become cheaper and more readily available, and phone coverage increases, the number of people using them is growing at the rate of one million a month. There continues to be concern about the issue of cell phone brain cancer, but is it a reality?

There was insufficient scientific evidence back in 1995, when the first lawsuit was filed by a man from Florida, claiming that his wife had died of a brain tumor caused by radiation from her cellular phone. The issue has not gone away since then, and further research is being done to find a definitive answer to the question, "do cell phones cause brain cancers?"

The reason for the concerns revolve around the fact that cell phones operate with radio frequencies (RF), a form of electro-magnetic energy, that falls between FM radio waves and those of microwaves and satellites on the electro-magnetic spectrum. Determining how much radiation a cell phone user will receive is difficult to ascertain, due to a various factors, such as:

• How long a person uses their cell phone for each call
• How frequently they use their cell phone
• What angle they hold their phone to their head
• How far they are from the base station
• How old their cell phone is. The older analog phones may be less safe than the newer digital models.

Despite several organizations stating that cellular phones are safe, there are many people who say that brain cancer can be caused by repeated exposure to RF, even if the RF is at low levels. The Federal Communications Commission has set down safe limits for human exposure to RF; the American Cancer Society has stated that the low level of energy that is emitted by cellular phones and absorbed by the tissues of the brain or other areas of the body, are unlikely to cause cancer.

There has been, and continues to be, research into the connection between cellular phone use and brain cancer, but the results are often contradictory. Four separate studies of patients who had been diagnosed with brain cancer in the late 1990s, compared to those with no brain cancer, all produced the same results. These were:

• The people with brain cancer reported no more cell phone use than those who had no brain cancer.
• No association with cell phone use was found when different types of brain cancer were considered.
• Specific locations of brain cancer tumors had no direct association the use of cell phones.
• No link was found between the side of the head where the cancer originated and the side that the person used their cell phone.

These findings were largely in direct opposition to other studies that were done using laboratory rats. However, it must be remembered that lab rats are specifically bred to be pre-disposed to cancer and received RF for 22 hours a day. As these studies in no way replicated the way humans use their mobile phones, it is obvious that more human studies are needed.

Cell phones are still a relatively new commodity, and to get definitive results from research, it needs to cover an extended period in the life of the user, to determine a cell phone brain cancer link.

In the mean time, the best approach is to use your phone wisely – limit the length and frequency of calls, use a hands-free devise and hold your phone away from your body and don't rely on newfangled devices that promise protection from cancer.