A review by the World Health Organisation found no evidence mobile phone use causes brain cancer. The review – covering research from 63 studies in 22 different countries between 1994-2022 – found no connection between mobile phone use, workplace radio frequency electromagnetic field transmission equipment, cell towers, and brain and pituitary cancers or leukemia in adults or children.
The review is important because the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) had previously rated mobile phones as ‘possibly carcinogenic’; however the WHO review found no correlation between mobile phone use and an increased risk of gliomas, meningiomas and acoustic neuromas, nor was there any correlation with pituitary and salivary cancers or leukemia.
Mobile phones are low-powered RF-EMF transmitters which transmit radio waves to their destinations through a series of fixed antennas (cell towers); these waves are electromagnetic fields. The review suggests they appear incapable of breaking chemical bonds or causing ionisation in our bodies, or damaging our DNA.
The review was led by Assoc Prof Ken Karipidis, assistant director of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency’s (ARPANSA) Health Impact Assessment and published in Environment International. It also found no evidence exposure from fixed-site RF- EMF transmitters, such as broadcasting antennas or cell phone towers, was linked to childhood leukemia or paediatric brain tumours; fixed workplace RF-EMF transmitters were likewise not associated with an increase in the incidence of gliomas.
However, Prof Karipidis told medicalnewstoday.com warned that technology is developing at a rapid pace and ‘the use of radio waves in different ways using different frequencies’ continues to develop; ‘it is therefore essential that science continues to ensure radio wave exposure from these technologies remains safe.’
