New studies show a correlation between Cell Phone radiation and cancer. However, the correlation is evident in lab rats, so the debates over causality or whether any effects arise in people will continue.
The ionizing radiation given off by sources such as x-ray machines and the sun pose cancer risk by shredding molecules in the body. As for cell phone’s and other wireless devices non-ionizing radio-frequency (RF) radiation just has one known biological effect; an ability to heat tissue by exciting its molecules.
Now studies show that prolonged exposure to even very low levels of RF radiation, makes rats uniquely prone to a rare tumor called a schwannoma, which affects a type of neuron (or nerve cell) called a Schwann cell.
Researchers at the National Toxicology Program, a federal interagency group under the National Institutes of Health have tested over 3,000 rats and mice of both sexes for two years resulted in RF effects in nearly 2,500 rats from the fetal stage until death. Studies have evaluated the radiation exposures in different ways. The NTP study focused the “near-field” exposures, which approximate how users are dosed while using cell phones.
On the other hand, the Ramazzini researchers looked at “far-field” exposures, which approximate the wireless RF radiation from sources all around us including wireless devices such as tablet and laptop computers. The generated results in male rats developed schwannomas of the heart at statistically higher rates than control animals that were not exposed.
The combined results confirm that RF radiation exposure has biological effects” in rats and some of them are relevant to carcinogenesis, according to Jon Samet, a professor of preventive medicine and dean of the Colorado School of Public Health who was not a part of either of the studies.
Cell phones and other wireless devices emit EF radiation continually, the radiation tails down when the distance from the body to the phone is decreasing and reaches a maximum when the devices are used next to the head during phone calls or in front of the body while using it.
California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recently issued a guidance for anyone who want to decrease their exposure to the radiation / RF energy linked to mobile phones. Check it out here.