Last May the World Health Organization released a report that heavy users of mobile phones might be at risk of getting cancer. It was a controversial report and many disputed the conclusion of WHO. Now a new report that looked at previously published research into this topic concludes that there was no evidence that links using cell phones to getting cancer.
The research was reviewed by a panel of scientists from the US, the UK, and Sweden and published in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal. The report states, "Although there remains some uncertainty, the trend in the accumulating evidence is increasingly against the hypothesis that mobile phone use can cause brain tumors in adults." Previously WHO said that using mobile phones was "possibly carcinogenic to humans," adding that heavy cell phone users are at higher risk of getting glioma, a type of brain cancer.
Studies conducted in a number of countries showed "no indication of increases in brain tumors up to 20 years after the introduction of mobile phones and 10 years after their use became widespread" according to the report. One large study, released in 2010, looked at nearly 13,000 cell phone users over 10 years. However today's review of the study stated that it had issues because it was based solely on interviews with its subjects.
While there doesn't appear to be a huge health threat from using mobile phones, the article states that mobile phone use is so widespread across the world that people would likely still use them even if solid evidence of a health issue was discovered.
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