Can Brain Cancer be Caused by Cell Phones
Do Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer?
In recent years, the use of cell phones has become widespread, and this has led to many people wondering if there is anything to the stories about cell phones causing cancer and other diseases. One of the biggest health hazards that people are increasingly concerned about is the possible development of brain cancer from cell phone use. There are opinions on both sides of this issue.
This first came to the attention of the public back in 1993 when a man from Florida appeared on a popular television talk show to explain that his wife's fight with a brain tumor occurred as a result of radio frequency or RF radiation that came from cell phone use. He filed a lawsuit, which was dismissed because there was no medical or scientific evidence to back up his story. Still, the issue had already gained steam and now there have been a great number of allegations made regarding cell phones and their ability to cause cancer.
How Could Cell Phones Give You Brain Cancer
Cellular phones are operated using RF or radio frequencies, and these are a type of electromagnetic energy that exist on the electromagnetic spectrum between the waves that are used in microwave ovens and satellites and radars and FM radio waves. The amount of these radio frequencies that a person is exposed to based on their cell phone use is going to depend on three different factors, which are the age of the cellular phone, the frequency and the duration of use of the cell phone and the distance between the phone and the base station.
There are a number of different organizations that have created limits for the exposure of humans to RF fields, namely the FCC or Federal Communication Commission for example. Still, many individuals have claimed that experiencing repeated exposure to RF fields from cell phones has caused or may cause brain tumors.
Not Enough Data On Brain Cancer to Say for Sure
Cellular phones have only really been in widespread use and acceptance for a handful of years, and so there has not been much of an opportunity yet for long term studies to be carried out regarding the way that they affect our health. There have been four different studies, however, that have compared the use of cell phones in people who have or have had brain cancer with people that have no brain cancer, and the same results were found.
Why in Some Cases Cell Phone Use Lowered the Risk of Brain Cancer
The studies showed that the patients with brain cancer were not reporting any more cell phone use than the control subjects that did not have any brain cancer. For unclear reasons, in fact, many of these studies have actually showed that using a cell phone lowered the risk of developing brain cancer rather than heightening it. Different brain cancer varieties were considered under these studies, and none of them were able to be consistently associated with the use of cell phones. While there is still more research to be done, there is no medical or scientific proof as yet that cell phone use causes cancer.
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