WHO Study Confirms Mobile Phones Don’t Cause Brain Cancer

A major study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in partnership with New Zealand’s Ministry of Health has found no link between mobile phone use and brain or neck cancers. This comprehensive research, one of the largest of its kind, challenges the long-held belief that mobile phones, which emit non-ionizing radiation through radio waves, could cause brain cancer or other tumors.

The review analyzed 64 observational studies on mobile phone use and its potential health effects, covering data collected between 1994 and 2022 from participants in 22 different countries. The findings clearly indicate that there is no evidence to support any connection between mobile phone use and the development of cancer.

“We concluded that the evidence does not show any association between mobile phones and brain cancer or cancers of the head and neck,” the researchers stated.

The review looked into various types of cancer, including brain cancer in both adults and children, cancers of the pituitary and salivary glands, as well as leukemia. It also examined potential risks related to mobile phone use, base stations, transmitters, and occupational exposure. Even for individuals who had used mobile phones for 10 or more years, no increased risk of cancer was found. Furthermore, despite the growing use of wireless technologies, the study noted no rise in brain cancer cases.

Professor Mark Elwood, co-author of the study and a cancer epidemiologist at the University of Auckland, emphasized, “None of the major questions studied showed increased risks.”

Previously, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the WHO, had classified exposure to radio waves as a potential carcinogen for humans back in 2011. This classification was based on limited evidence from observational studies where some people with brain cancer reported higher mobile phone use than they actually had. These kinds of studies, while useful in exploring long-term health impacts, can often be influenced by biases.

Given the new findings, researchers are now calling for the IARC’s classification to be reassessed, especially since significant data has emerged since the 2011 evaluation.

Modern mobile phones emit low levels of radio waves that are well below established safety limits, and the results of this study should help alleviate concerns and myths about the risks of long-term mobile phone usage, experts added.