Well buttressed conclusions on a possible cell phone – brain cancer link remain in short supply despite substantial research on the question. Nevertheless, inconclusive results keep leading to alarming headlines. Encouragingly though, the weakness of the case against cell phones is becoming more evident.
Writing for New York Times Magazine Siddhartha Mukherjee, assistant professor of medicine in the division of medical oncology at Columbia University, examines the question “Do Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer?” Mukherjee provides an in depth discussion of the history as well as the scientific methods underlying studies of the question. Mukherjee explains:
Finding a carcinogen, in short, is not like solving a mathematical equation, with a single formula and solution. It is more like solving an epic detective case, with individual pieces of evidence that, taken together, suggest a common culprit.
But thus far, this extraordinarily wide-cast net has yet to find solid proof of risk for cellphone radiation: not a single trial or test that has attributed carcinogenic potential has been free of problems. Populationwide studies have failed to demonstrate an increased incidence; retrospective trials have been contradictory and riddled with biases; animal studies negative; human physiological experiments inconclusive; cellular studies inconsistent and weak.
Mukherjee advocates further comprehensive studies. I believe there is little justification for ever more funding to search for a potential harm so negligible as to have eluded an already prolonged and intensive investigation. Nevertheless, Mukherjee’s comprehensive and informative piece is well worth a read.
Previously on ÆtherCzar:
- More Antennaphobia: Devra Davis’s “Disconnect”
- Cell phone “trees” have come to symbolize the unjustified fear and exaggerated concern over RF safety: “antennaphobia.” ÆtherCzar shared additional photo albums of cell phone antennas disguised as trees, as well as the latest study failing to find links between cell phone use and health risks in: “More Cell Phone Tower “Trees,” Less Reason to Fear the Signal.”
- Einstein’s Nobel Prize: Proving Cell Phones Can’t Cause Cancer
- SAR Labels for Cell Phones?
- Antennaphobia and Nineteenth Century Antennaphobia RF safety hysteria, from Marconi to cell phones.
2 thoughts on “Antennaphobia Waning? A Look at Cell Phone Safety”
if you don’t plan to wait 10 years for research to prove the dangers of cell phones radiation you may want to check your own cell phones sar levels and see
where you stand .
I disagree that SAR levels are particularly meaningful. The maximum allowed SAR level is already negligible. Being less than negligible doesn’t make a phone safer. See my earlier post: SAR Labels for Cell Phones? which I’ve added to the links above for details.