'Smartphones increase your risk of CANCER'

Question

This claim that cell phones cause cancer is false. This article by the Daily Mail says "Using a mobile phone for as little as 17 minutes per day over 10 years increases the risk of developing cancerous tumors by up to 60 percent, a surprising study found." This is a wild claim that is not backed by any factual evidence and a report from The National Cancer Institution debunks that by saying there is no evidence in their extensive research to prove that cellphones have any correlation to cancer or tumors. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation/cell-phones-fact-sheet

Comments

I found this claim to be very intriguing as someone who uses their phone daily, after further reading the article I was pleased to have factual back up supporting that this is false, having no evidence relating cellphone usage to cancer.

Answer 1

The claim that cell phones definitively cause cancer is widely debated, but current research does not conclusively support this. However, the research isn’t all one-sided. Some meta-analyses have suggested potential risks with high levels of cumulative exposure over many years. A meta-analysis by Dr. Joel Moskowitz found a slight increase in tumor risk for those using cell phones for an hour or more daily over ten years, although this correlation hasn’t been consistently replicated across studies​. To clear up, cell phones emit radiofrequency energy, a type of non-ionizing radiation, which is different from the ionizing radiation known to damage DNA directly. Some studies on animals exposed to high levels of RF radiation have shown mixed outcomes, including some types of tumors in specific cell types, but these effects have been challenging to translate to typical human cell phone use, therefore the claim is considered false. In summary, while the idea that cell phones are a definitive cancer risk lacks lots of strong evidence, therefore we can not prove the claim to be correct.

https://news.berkeley.edu/2021/07/01/health-risks-of-cell-phone-radiation/

https://www.cancer.org.au/iheard/do-mobile-phones-cause-cancer