By Sarah Loughran and Ken Karipidis
A systematic review into the potential health effects from radio wave exposure has shown mobile phones are not linked to brain cancer. The review was commissioned by the World Health Organization and is published today in the journal Environment International.
Mobile phones are often held against the head during use. And they emit radio waves, a type of non-ionising radiation. These two factors are largely why the idea mobile phones might cause brain cancer emerged in the first place.
The possibility that mobile phones might cause cancer has been a long-standing concern. Mobile phones – and wireless tech more broadly – are a major part of our daily lives. So it’s been vital for science to address the safety of radio wave exposure from these devices.
Over the years, the scientific consensus has remained strong – there’s no association between mobile phone radio waves and brain cancer, or health more generally.
Radiation as a possible carcinogen
Despite the consensus, occasional research studies have been published that suggested the possibility of harm.
In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified radio wave exposure as a possible carcinogen to humans. The meaning of this classification was largely misunderstood and led to some increase in concern.
IARC is part of the World Health Organization. Its classification of radio waves as a possible carcinogen was largely based on limited evidence from human observational studies. Also known as epidemiological studies, they observe the rate of disease and how it may be caused in human populations.
Observational studies are the best tool researchers have to investigate long-term health effects in humans, but the results can often be biased.
The IARC classification relied on previous observational studies where people with brain cancer reported they used a mobile phone more than they actually did. One example of this is known as the INTERPHONE study.
This new systematic review of human observational studies is based on a much larger data set compared to what the IARC examined in 2011.
It includes more recent and more comprehensive studies. This means we can now be more confident that exposure to radio waves from mobile phones or wireless technologies is not associated with an increased risk of brain cancer.
iva_evva/Shutterstock
No association
The new review forms part of a series of systematic reviews commissioned by the World Health Organization to look more closely at possible health effects associated with exposure to radio waves.
This systematic review provides the strongest evidence to date that radio waves from wireless technologies are not a hazard to human health.
It is the most comprehensive review on this topic – it considered more than 5,000 studies, of which 63, published between 1994 and 2022, were included in the final analysis. The main reason studies were excluded was that they were not actually relevant; this is very normal with search results from systematic reviews.
No association between mobile phone use and brain cancer, or any other head or neck cancer, was found.
There was also no association with cancer if a person used a mobile phone for ten or more years (prolonged use). How often they used it – either based on the number of calls or the time spent on the phone – also didn’t make a difference.
Importantly, these findings align with previous research. It shows that, although the use of wireless technologies has massively increased in the past few decades, there has been no rise in the incidence of brain cancers.
A good thing
Overall, the results are very reassuring. They mean that our national and international safety limits are protective. Mobile phones emit low-level radio waves below these safety limits, and there is no evidence exposure to these has an impact on human health.
Despite this, it is important that research continues. Technology is developing at a rapid pace. With this development comes the use of radio waves in different ways using different frequencies. It is therefore essential that science continues to ensure radio wave exposure from these technologies remains safe.
The challenge we now face is making sure this new research counteracts the persistent misconceptions and misinformation out there regarding mobile phones and brain cancer.
There remains no evidence of any established health effects from exposures related to mobile phones, and that is a good thing.
Sarah Loughran is Director of Radiation Research and Advice, Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), and Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Wollongong. Ken Karipidis is Assistant Director of Health Impact Assessment, Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), and Adjunct Associate Professor (Practice), School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University.
The Conversation arose out of deep-seated concerns for the fading quality of our public discourse and recognition of the vital role that academic experts could play in the public arena. Information has always been essential to democracy. It’s a societal good, like clean water. But many now find it difficult to put their trust in the media and experts who have spent years researching a topic. Instead, they listen to those who have the loudest voices. Those uninformed views are amplified by social media networks that reward those who spark outrage instead of insight or thoughtful discussion. The Conversation seeks to be part of the solution to this problem, to raise up the voices of true experts and to make their knowledge available to everyone. The Conversation publishes nightly at 9 p.m. on FlaglerLive.
JOSEPH HEMPFLING says
HERE WE GO AGAIN; DOWN THE SAME ROAD THE TOBACCO PROPAGANDA MACHINE USED TO CONVINCE US THOSE “TORCHES OF FREEDOM” FOR THE GALS WERE NON-CARCINOGENIC AND MAYBE EVEN SEXY AND CUTE UNTIL WE LEARNED BETTER AND WHICH TOOK OVER TWENTY YEARS.
REMEMBER IT IS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN PROFITS OVER PEOPLE. AND THIS SO CALLED
STUDY IS NOTHING MORE THAN AN UN-TRUTH FOR THE SAME OLD REASON; PROFITS !
AND DAMN THE RELATED HEALTH COSTS TO US ALL !
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
oh no science doesn’t agree with the thing that I think must be true so clearly there’s a conspiracy oh no
James says
Well, I’m glad to read that there still are studies being done on this topic. With such a dynamic and ever changing technology such as cell phone technology it’s imperative that studies continue to be conducted.
Can anyone argue that today’s technology is not only different in its engineering (frequencies, transmission/reception protocols, tower density, etc…), but also in the way this technology is now used by the individual?
One would expect an increase in a variety of cancers, not just brain cancer due to the use of this technology. But to make that link would require many more years of data, and assumes an end to change in this relentlessly changing technology… and also assumes an eventual conformity of the cell phone circuitry itself.
Just some observations.