One of the biggest ever studies on cellphone radiation has
conclusively found that mobile phones do cause cancer, ending the
long-running debate on the dangers of cellphones.
The peer-reviewed study,
by the National Toxicology Program, found that rats who were exposed to
cellphone frequencies got two types of brain tumors as a result.
Partial findings from the study, released on Thursday, warned that the results will likely have a huge effect on public health.
“Given
the widespread global usage of mobile communications among users of all
ages, even a very small increase in the incidence of disease resulting
from exposure to [radio-frequency radiation] could have broad
implications for public health,” the report stated on Thursday.
Wsj.com reports:
A
spokesperson for the National Institutes of Health, which helped
oversee the study, wasn’t immediately available for comment. Earlier in
the week, the NIH said, “It is important to note that previous human,
observational data collected in earlier, large-scale population-based
studies have found limited evidence of an increased risk for developing
cancer from cellphone use.”
While not all biological effects
observed in animals necessarily apply to humans, the National Toxicology
Program’s $25 million study is one of the biggest and most
comprehensive experiments into health effects from cellphones.
“Where
people were saying there’s no risk, I think this ends that kind of
statement,” said Ron Melnick, who ran the NTP project until retiring in
2009 and recently reviewed the study’s results.
Since mobile
phones were launched commercially in the 1980s, the only widely agreed
upon physical impact from cellphone radio-frequency energy is that it
can heat human tissue at high enough levels. Cellphones are designed
well below this thermal level.
The U.S. government’s official
position is that the weight of scientific evidence hasn’t indicated
health risks. In 2011, the World Health Organization said cellphone
radiation was a group 2B possible carcinogen. Illustrating the ambiguity
of the designation is the fact that certain pickled vegetables and
coffee are also considered possibly carcinogenic.
There also are
many studies showing no harmful health effects. Just this month, a
survey of brain cancer rates in Australia found no increase since the
introduction of mobile phones there almost three decades ago, a finding
also seen in other countries.
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration appointed the NTP to study cellphone radio-frequency
radiation nearly two decades ago. The NTP, established inside the
Department of Health and Human Services in 1978, is tasked with
identifying and testing agents that are potentially harmful to humans.
In
2005, the NTP selected the IIT Research Institute in Chicago to carry
out the experiments. The parameters of the tests took several years to
design and build because of their complexity, researchers say.
The
study was conducted in an underground lab with 21 specially designed
radio-frequency chambers to house mice and rats. More than 2,500 rats
and mice were exposed to radio-frequency energy in various intervals
over two years.
The study explored effects from the most common
type of wireless technologies, GSM and CDMA, at two common frequencies,
900 megahertz for rats and 1900 megahertz for mice. It exposed the rats
to the frequencies every 10 minutes followed by a 10-minute break for 18
hours, resulting in nine hours a day of exposure.
Results from the study on mice weren’t released.
The
two types of tumors the study identified also have been discovered in
some epidemiological studies. Those studies, which have found instances
of gliomas and acoustic neuromas, were key factors in the WHO’s decision
to classify cellphone radiation as a possible carcinogen. The NTP
report noted that its findings “appear to support” the classification.
It
found the cancer association appeared in male rats, and didn’t find
similar results in female rats. Rats that were exposed to radiofrequency
energy in utero tended to have slightly lower birth weights.
Partial
findings from the NTP study were released after the results were
earlier reported by the website Microwave News. The NTP report said the
complete study results would be released by the fall of 2017.
It’s
not clear how the results may impact the government’s cellphone safety
recommendations. The Federal Communications Commission, which
administers safety guidelines for U.S. cellphone use, has been briefed
on the findings.
“Scientific evidence always informs FCC rules on
this matter,” an FCC spokesman said. “We will continue to follow all
recommendations from federal health and safety experts including whether
the FCC should modify its current policies and RF exposure limits.”
Current
cellphone safety standards are centered around the heating effects from
radiofrequency energy, which is the same type of energy that cooks food
in a microwave. Tests for safe use of cellphones were designed in the
1990s around this heating effect. The latest findings could lead to
changes in safety standards, such as only talking on a cellphone while
using a headset and keeping the devices out of pants pockets.
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