Good news from the World Health Organization — our cell phone usage is not linked to brain cancer! Ever since our world was taken over by cell phones and wireless technology at large, there have been questions about how the radio waves emitted from the devices affect the human body. And with phones in particular, that we hold up to our ears, there was good reason to scientifically investigate if the radio waves are safe. WHO intensively reviewed 5,000 studies taken from 1994 to 2022 that inform the latest findings that were published this week. CNN summarized the new report, as well as some history on the concerns that led to research in the first place:

A systematic review into the potential health effects from radio wave exposure has shown mobile phones are not linked to brain cancer. The review was commissioned by the World Health Organization and is published today in the journal Environment International.

Mobile phones are often held against the head during use. And they emit radio waves, a type of non-ionising radiation. These two factors are largely why the idea mobile phones might cause brain cancer emerged in the first place.

The possibility that mobile phones might cause cancer has been a long-standing concern. Mobile phones — and wireless tech more broadly — are a major part of our daily lives. So it’s been vital for science to address the safety of radio wave exposure from these devices.

Over the years, the scientific consensus has remained strong — there’s no association between mobile phone radio waves and brain cancer, or health more generally.

Despite the consensus, occasional research studies have been published that suggested the possibility of harm.

In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified radio wave exposure as a possible carcinogen to humans. The meaning of this classification was largely misunderstood and led to some increase in concern.

IARC is part of the World Health Organization. Its classification of radio waves as a possible carcinogen was largely based on limited evidence from human observational studies. Also known as epidemiological studies, they observe the rate of disease and how it may be caused in human populations.

Observational studies are the best tool researchers have to investigate long-term health effects in humans, but the results can often be biased.

The IARC classification relied on previous observational studies where people with brain cancer reported they used a mobile phone more than they actually did. One example of this is known as the INTERPHONE study.

This new systematic review of human observational studies is based on a much larger data set compared to what the IARC examined in 2011.

It includes more recent and more comprehensive studies. This means we can now be more confident that exposure to radio waves from mobile phones or wireless technologies is not associated with an increased risk of brain cancer.

The new review forms part of a series of systematic reviews commissioned by the World Health Organization to look more closely at possible health effects associated with exposure to radio waves.

This systematic review provides the strongest evidence to date that radio waves from wireless technologies are not a hazard to human health.

It is the most comprehensive review on this topic — it considered more than 5,000 studies, of which 63, published between 1994 and 2022, were included in the final analysis. The main reason studies were excluded was that they were not actually relevant; this is very normal with search results from systematic reviews.

[From CNN]

WHO’s report also asserted that there was no link between cell phone usage and other cancers of the head or neck. And thank goodness! Because we don’t want things to be giving us cancer, full stop. And while we should be relieved by these results, WHO dutifully acknowledged that there should always be continued research, especially with rapidly developing technology. Of course the irony of these findings coming out now is that I’m sure up-and-coming Gen Z is going, “Huh, people TALK on their phones?” 😂 Naw, I kid the kids. But yes, we really do practice the art of conversation on our personal wireless devices.

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