ACS generally looks to other expert organizations to determine if something causes cancer that is, if it is a carcinogen , including:. Other major organizations also sometimes comment on the ability of certain exposures such as cell phone use to cause cancer. More recently, the US Food and Drug Administration FDA issued a technical report based on studies published between and , as well as national trends in cancer rates. So far, the National Toxicology Program NTP has not included RF radiation in its Report on Carcinogens , which lists exposures that are known to be or reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens.
For more on this report, see Known and Probable Human Carcinogens. Those evaluating the potential risks of using wireless devices agree that more and longer-term studies should explore whether there is a better basis for RF safety standards than is currently used. Scientific studies are underway to determine whether cell phone use may cause health effects. It is not clear at this time that RF waves from cell phones cause harmful health effects in people, but studies now being done should give a clearer picture of the possible health effects in the future.
Until more is known, there are several things that people who are concerned about RF waves can do to limit their exposure. Use the speaker mode or video chat feature on the phone, or a hands-free device such as a corded or cordless earpiece. This moves the antenna away from your head, which decreases the amount of RF waves that reach the head. Corded earpieces emit virtually no RF waves although the phone itself still emits small amounts of RF waves that can reach parts of the body if close enough, such as on the waist or in a pocket.
Texting instead of talking on the phone may be another way to reduce your exposure. But it may not be a good option in some situations, especially if you are driving. For safety reasons, it is especially important to limit or avoid the use of cell phones especially texting while driving.
This is one of the most obvious ways to limit your exposure to RF waves from cell phones. For example, you may want to limit the amount of time you spend talking on the phone at least with your phone up to your ear. Consider choosing a phone with a low SAR value. Different models of phones can give off different levels of RF waves. The FCC has links to some of these sites.
If you know the FCC identification ID number for your phone model which can often be found somewhere on the phone or in the user manual , you can also go to the following web address: www.
Fifth generation 5G cellular networks are now being rolled out in many parts of the United States and in other countries. But the newer 5G signals still use RF waves, so they are still forms of non-ionizing radiation, which is not thought to have the ability to directly damage DNA. The studies that have been done so far to look at possible links between cell phone use and cancer have focused on older generation mainly 2G and 3G signals. At this time, there has been very little research showing that the RF waves used in 5G networks are any more or less of a concern than the other RF wavelengths used in cellular communication.
For more on 5G networks, see Cell Phone Towers. Cordless phones, commonly used in homes, have base units that are plugged into telephone jacks and wired to a local telephone service. They are not considered cell phones. Many wireless devices now communicate over shorter distances using Bluetooth technology. For example, many phones now have the option of using wireless Bluetooth earbuds.
Follow this link to find out more. We regularly review new research on the causes of cancer to make sure our information is up to date and based on the best quality evidence. We develop our information by looking at lots of research carried out over many years. So, although new research comes out all the time, it is unlikely that one new study would change our position on a topic. Some studies are better than others at telling us about how different factors affect cancer risk.
These are some of the things we consider:. So we focus on studies in people. And studies that only follow people for a short amount of time can miss long-term effects. So we mainly look at studies that follow thousands of people over many years.
Studies should take known risk factors into account. For example, if a study is looking at air pollution and lung cancer, it should also look at whether participants smoked. This means that other experts have checked the results. For example, Cancer Research UK disregards research funded by the tobacco industry. How to find accurate information on cancer. Sometimes news outlets exaggerate stories about cancer.
In , there was renewed interest in this topic following an announcement that 5G technology would be rolled out. In the last 20 years, a large number of studies have investigated whether mobile phones are a health risk.
Many studies have been conducted on mobile phone use and its link to cancers of the head and brain - such as meningioma, glioma and acoustic neuroma. Brain function - such as changes in cognitive performance or brain activity - has also been examined. Case-control Studies.
Most studies to date have been case-control studies, where researchers compare mobile phone use among people with and without cancer. These studies are retrospective; they rely on people remembering how often and for how long they used their mobile phone in the past. The study started in and results were published in and There was some suggestion that glioma risk was increased slightly amongst the heaviest users of mobile phones, but the elevated risk may have been the result of chance, reporting bias or confounding.
Similar results were found by a smaller French case-control study in In October , a very large Danish study of over , people found no link between mobile phone use and risk of any type of brain tumour. People were followed for an average of around 10 years. This result was confirmed in by a prospective study of nearly , UK women, which found that mobile phone use was not associated with an increased incidence of brain cancers.
In , an Australian study examined trends in the incidence of brain tumours over the periods , - and - The researchers then used modelling to determine whether the number of brain cancer diagnoses was higher than expected during those periods.
The authors found that overall brain tumour rates remained stable during all three periods. When mobile phone use was high between and , there was no increase in glioma of the temporal lobe. This is the part of the brain that is closest to the ear, so most exposed when using a mobile phone. This study concluded that there has been no increase in any brain tumour type that can be attributed to mobile phones.
Mobile phones communicate by transmitting radio waves through a network of fixed antennas called base stations. Base stations emit radio frequency RF waves at high power levels.
The strength of the RF field is the greatest near its source, and drops off greatly with distance. Hence the antennas are positioned high up and surrounds are often fenced off.
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