Cellphone Radiation and Cancer

Summer Quarterly 2018

Results of the largest-ever animal study of cellphone radiation have confirmed earlier evidence from human studies that the radio-frequency (RF) radiation increases the risk of cancer including brain tumors.

Scientific American reports, “The National Toxicology Program study dosed rats and mice of both sexes with RF radiation at either 1.5, 3, or 6 watts of [electromagnetic] radiation per kilogram of body weight, or W/kg. The lowest dose is about the same as the Federal Communications Commission’s limit for public exposure from cell phones, which is 1.6 watts W/kg.

“When turned on, cell phones and other wireless devices emit RF radiation continually, even if they are not being actively used, because they are always communicating with cell towers. The dose intensity trails off with increasing distance from the body, and reaches a maximum when the devices are used next to the head during phone calls or in front of the body during texting or tweeting.”

A panel of outside experts that reviewed the findings in March “concluded there was ‘clear evidence’ linking RF radiation with heart [tumors called] schwannomas and ‘some evidence’ linking it to gliomas [tumors] of the brain” Scientific American reported.

In a press release from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Dr. John Bucher said, “The tumors we saw in these studies are similar to tumors previously reported in some studies of frequent cell phone users.”

Olga Naidenko, senior science advisor at the Environmental Working Group, told Acres USA magazine, “These studies should have been done before more than 90 percent of Americans, including children, started using this technology day in and day out.”

Access the study here.

—Sources: Acres USA, April 2018; Scientific American, March 29, 2018; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences press release, Feb. 2, 2018.