Mobile phone cancer review suggests shows ‘no indication’ of risk

The biggest review of mobile phone safety has concluded that there appears to be no increased risk of cancer caused by the devices’ radiation.

No clear evidence has been found linking mobile phone radiation to cancer, in the largest review of published research into mobile phone safety.

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As the use of mobile phones has rapidly increased, there have been regular concerns about the safety and the long-term effect of the radiation they use. But this review, which collected the data from many previous studies, did not find any convincing proof that the radio waves emitted by mobile phones cause cancer or increase the risk of brain tumours.

However, the researchers were cautious with their findings, reminding us that the exposure to mobile phone radiation is a new phenomenon. They recommended children should avoid ‘excessive’ use of mobile phones and that society needs to keep an eye on the incidences of cancer and brain tumours in case of any increase.

"Remember this is an exposure that 20 years ago nobody had and now practically everybody has,” explained Professor Anthony Swerdlow, at the Institute of Cancer Research. “So you might expect that if there were appreciable effects that you would see them in the tumour rates," he said. "But if this is something that takes 15, 20 years or more to show up – we have no reason to think there is an effect – if it takes a long time to show up, we need to keep watching the rates just in case."

The report said that the general public could be reassured by these findings but further monitoring would be necessary.