It’s a question that has been debated for 30 years, but scientists say they have made a definitive ruling on whether cell phones cause brain tumors.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday reviewed more than 5,000 studies led by Australian scientists, which found that no increased risk of various types of cancer was associated with mobile phone use.
According to researchers, the findings, which will be published soon in the journal Environmental International, apply regardless of how long people have been using their phones or how many years they have been using the technology.
The finding follows widespread concern about the impact of mobile phone radiation and a warning from the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2011, which classified phone radiation as possibly carcinogenic.
Eleven researchers from ten countries carried out the latest research, commissioned and co-funded by WHO and led by scientists from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA).
More than 5,000 articles examining the effects of cell phone radiation between 1994 and 2022 were examined, and 63 observational studies on the topic were analyzed.
Researchers investigated whether electromagnetic energy increases the incidence of three types of brain tumors, including childhood cases, and cancers of the pituitary gland, salivary glands and blood.
Ken Karipidis, associate professor in ARPANSA’s Health Impact Assessment, said there were widespread and ongoing concerns about the impact of mobile phone radiation and the extensive study was intended to provide a comprehensive picture.
“We’ve been talking about this problem for 30 years,” he said.
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Associate Professor Ken Karipidis (pictured) said concerns about the impact of mobile phone radiation were widespread and persistent
“There have been many studies in the past that have come to conflicting conclusions. So it’s important to combine all the evidence and really let people know what’s really going on.”
According to Associate Professor Karipidis, the project researchers analyzed the 63 most relevant studies on signs of individual cancers and found no increased risks.
“The evidence does not show a link between cell phone use and brain tumors or other head and neck cancers,” he said.
‘We also found no association with long-term use. So if people use their mobile phone for 10 years or more, we found no association. We also found no association with the extent to which they use their mobile phone, nor with the number of phone calls people make, nor with the time they spend on the phone.’
Mark Elwood, an honorary professor of cancer epidemiology at the University of Auckland and a co-author of the study, said the findings were made with “moderate certainty”, the highest rating in research without access to clinical trials.
He said the study could not answer questions about unusual exposure to mobile phones or rare forms of cancer due to a lack of research. The findings also applied to 3G and 4G networks.
“There are no major studies of 5G networks yet, but there are studies of radar, which has similar high frequencies,” said Prof. Elwood.
‘These do not show an increased risk.’
Rohan Mate, a researcher at ARPANSA and manager of the organization’s Talk to a Scientist program, said the finding could encourage and reassure people about their safety.
“We hope that these results can help us ensure the safety of our users and hopefully also alleviate their fears about using technology,” he said.