Cell phone users have no increased risk of brain tumors, new study finds

According to a large-scale study, regular cell phone use does not increase the risk of brain tumors.

Despite becoming a staple of modern life, there has been a long-standing fear, often from conspiracy theorists, that our phones may emit carcinogenic radiation.

But studies that followed more than 400,000 Brits for a decade found no link between regular cell phone use and the prevalence of brain cancer.

Oxford University experts found that 0.41 percent of women who use mobile phones develop a brain tumor, while 0.44 percent who never use devices develop a brain tumor.

The study, conducted in the 1990s, adds to growing evidence that alleviates concerns about phones and cancer, the researchers said.

“Using a cell phone under normal conditions does not increase the risk of brain tumors,” said Kirstin Pirie, statistical analyst and co-author of the study.

The research was published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute †

Conspiracy theorists have long argued that radio waves emitted from phones can penetrate the skull and cause cancer when called.

The allegations have gotten even more outrageous in recent years with the emergence of 5G, which some claim is linked to the Covid pandemic.

Oxford researchers used data from 400,000 cancer-free women aged 50 to 80 between 2001 and 2011.

At the beginning and end of the study, the participants were asked about their use of mobile phones.

Their responses were compared to their medical records in both cases.

The researchers then watched if someone developed three different types of brain tumors: meningioma, pituitary adenoma, and acoustic neuromas.

He also looked at other factors that can cause cancer, such as age, body mass index, alcohol consumption, smoking and exercise.

The results showed that people who used a phone in some form for 10 years had a 5% lower risk of developing brain cancer than those who never used it at that time.

Women who use phones every day during this time have a slightly higher chance, 1% higher.

Meanwhile, those who use the phone less every day have 3% less risk than those who don’t use it at all.

The experts noted that the small risk differences between groups were not statistically significant.

Of the 286,387 women who never used a mobile phone in 2001, 1,261 developed a brain tumor, 0.44% in 2011.

Meanwhile, of the 556,131 people who used one, 2,278 ended the study with a brain tumor (0.41%).

“These findings support the growing evidence that cell phone use under normal circumstances does not increase the risk of brain tumors,” said Pirie, a cancer specialist at Oxford.

The potential cancer scare of cell phones first emerged in the 1990s when portable phones became a staple in every home.

According to Cancer Research UK, there has been a 39% increase in brain cancer diagnoses in the UK over the next 20 years.

In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization (WHO), said phones could be a possible cause of cancer.

But he admitted that there was not enough data to come to a conclusion and that larger studies have since found no link, and experts think the increase may be due to a better diagnosis.

Cell phones emit radio frequency waves from their antennas in the form of electromagnetic radiation.

The area of ​​the body closest to the antenna, usually the head, has the potential to absorb some of this energy.

However, many scientists have claimed that this radiation is non-ionizing, that is, non-ionizing. Unlike low energy, low frequency and X-rays, it does not harm cells.