On November 2, 2020, the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health published an open-access article called “Cellular Phone Use and Risk of Tumors: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” In it, the authors analyzed data from 46 case-control studies that looked at the relationship between cell phones and cancer. The study is an update to an earlier meta-analysis published in 2009 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The new meta-analysis revealed “significant evidence linking cellular phone use to increased tumor risk, especially among cell phone users with cumulative cell phone use of 1,000 or more hours in their lifetime.” In fact, people who logged this much cell phone use had a 60 percent increased risk of developing brain tumors.
1,000 or more hours is roughly equivalent to 17 minutes per day over a 10 year period. Why the concerning connection?
Cell phones emit radiofrequency energy, a type of non-ionizing radiation. In vitro studies show this kind of radiation can promote cancer by increasing oxidative stress and DNA damage and altering protein structure and expression.
The researchers acknowledge that additional higher-quality studies are warranted to confirm their findings and provide stronger levels of evidence. But they also point to a current challenge for understanding the link between cell phone and cancer risk – namely, that many of the current studies investigating the association are lower-quality.
For example, the reviewers cited a group of studies known as INTERPHONE which allegedly showed that cell phone use was associated with reduced tumor risk. However, these INTERPHONE studies “were partly funded by the mobile industry, had poor methodological quality … and did not use blinding at interview,” all of which constitute significant limitations that must be considered when interpreting their results.
This meta-analysis is not alone in its findings. Both Mayo Clinic and the National Cancer Institute cite studies showing a link between heavy cell phone use and an increased incidence of gliomas and salivary gland cancers.
According to the American Cancer Society, radiofrequency radiation is rated “possibly carcinogenic to humans” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). American Cancer Society adds that health problems caused by wireless headphones also cannot be ruled out at this time, although these devices generally emit far lower radiofrequency energy than cell phones themselves.
Worried about your exposure to wireless radiation? Here are 4 simple tips to reduce your risk of exposure
While the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) doesn’t “endorse” these following prevention steps, they do offer them to anyone who is skeptical or concerned about the impact of the use of cell phone devices on their health. Effective and simple, the tips include:
Spending less time on your cell phone
Using the speakerphone feature to keep the phone further away from your head
Keeping your cell phone further away from your body whenever possible (e.g., don’t store it against your skin or in your pocket)
Text instead of talk
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Portions of this health tip are from NaturalHealth365.
