Is there a link between mobile phones and cancer?
The WHO/IARC report suggests a possible link between mobile phone usage and cancer 5 billion people use mobile phones globally and the number is constantly increasing, particularly amongst children and young adults. With the latest report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) stating that mobile phones are carcinogenic mobile phone users would be forgiven for being scared to use their handsets.
But looking behind the report does help to put things into perspective. The report, published on 31 May 2011, says that there is some cause for concern with regard to mobile phone usage as radiofrequency electromagnetic fields are possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B) based on an increased risk of a malignant type of brain cancer associated with wireless phone use called glioma.
The report from the IARC was put together by a working group who discussed the possibility of long term health effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields of mobile phone usage, microwaves, radar, radio, TV and wireless communication exposures. The Working Group looked at the exposure data, studies of cancer in humans and in experimental animals as well as mechanistic and other data.
The IARC carcinogenic Classifications
There are various different classifications of materials and how carcinogenic they are depending on their effects on health.
The IARC classification is as follows:
Group 1 – the agent is carcinogenic
Group 2A – the agent is probably carcinogenic to humans
Group 2B – the agent is possibly carcinogenic to humans
Group 3 – the agent is not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans
Group 4 – the agent is probably not carcinogenic to humans
From this latest working group mobile phone usage has been classed as Group 2B (possibly carcinogenic). It is worth remembering, however, that this group, 2B, is a catch-all category and includes many agents such as chloroform, naphthalene, vinyl acetate and styrene while coffee and pickled vegetables are included as possibly carcinogenic mixtures and being a carpenter or joiner, fire fighter or dry cleaner are potentially hazardous occupations. Group 3 includes those materials that just have not had enough research done to say whether or not they are possibly carcinogenic to humans and includes talc, tea and fluorescent lighting. As for Group 4, it only has one material or agent, caprolactum, which is a colourless and solid organic compound precursor to Nylon 6, a widely used synthetic polymer.
Status quo remains due to a lack of indisputable evidence
There have been many differing views on whether or not mobile phones cause cancer. The largest study, which was conducted in Denmark with 420,095 respondents followed over 21 years to find out the incidence of cancer and phone usage, concluded that there was no discernable link between mobile phone usage and brain cancer and leukaemia . Another study conducted in 2007 in five European countries again found no link between mobile phone usage and glioma.
Overall there has been no real link between mobile phones and cancer but on the other hand mobiles and smartphones are relatively new and with the uptake globally getting higher some groups are urging some level of caution. Children aged 16 and under in particular are advised to limit their usage to essential calls only as their brains and nervous systems are still developing and as of yet there has not been enough conclusive research on this area.
General advice is to use headsets, hand free devices or texting rather than just phoning . To many users hooked on their mobile phones, this may well fall on deaf ears. After all, driving while using their mobile, even with a headset, is the biggest tangible threat to mobile phone users who are four times more likely to be involved in an accident while using your phone...