There has been speculation about an association between radiation emitted from cell phones and possible links to brain cancer almost as long as there have been cell phones. Dr. Melissa Bondy, a professor of Epidemiology and Population Science at Baylor College of Medicine, is an authority on the subject and says she has not come across evidence that would support a connection.
An article published in the Journal of Health and Environment cites a British study that found a doubling of the number of cases of glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer, in the past two decades, and that suggests because the frontal cortex is involved cell phones could be the cause.
Dr. Bondy says the research doesn’t show cause. “At least in the United States our rates are flat; they’re not increasing. I honestly don’t know what this can be attributed to,” she tells News Radio 740 KTRH. In all her years examining the issue, Bondy says, she’s never found causality, and thinks if there was one, we’d know by now. “If there was an increase, we’d have seen it by now because people have been using cell phones for quite a while.” She says the levels of radiation from cell phones is minimal and not the type that has been linked to cancers, recalling the early satellite mobile phones first made available in 1983 that weighed two-and-a-half pounds and were commonly referred to as bricks, saying, “Our cell phones have improved so that we don’t really have the same exposure that we had when we were carrying those bricks around.”
This isn’t to say that cell phones can’t cause physical harm. Optometrists warn excessive exposure to blue light emitted by phones, computers and tablets can damage eyesight, and caution that especially for younger children, with their shorter arms and who hold devices closer to their faces, are at greater risk.