It’s a question that has been around for 30 years, but scientists say they have reached a definitive conclusion about whether mobile phones cause brain cancer.
A review of more than 5,000 studies by the World Health Organization, led by Australian scientists, published a response on Wednesday revealing that it found no increased risk of several types of cancer associated with mobile phone use.
The researchers say the findings, to be published in the journal Environmental International, apply regardless of how much time people spend on their phones or how many years they have been using the technology.
The finding comes after widespread concern about the impact of mobile phone radiation and a warning from the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2011 that classified phone radiation as a possible carcinogen.
The latest review, commissioned and partly funded by WHO and led by scientists from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), was carried out by eleven researchers from ten countries.
More than 5,000 articles examining the effects of mobile phone radiation between 1994 and 2022 and 63 observational studies on the topic were analyzed.
The researchers examined whether electromagnetic energy increased the incidence of three types of brain cancer, including cases in children, as well as cancers of the pituitary gland, salivary glands and blood.
ARPANSA’s Deputy Director for Health Impact Assessment, Associate Professor Ken Karipidis, said concerns about the impact of mobile phone radiation were widespread and persistent, and the comprehensive review had been designed to provide a comprehensive view.
“We’ve been talking about this issue for the last 30 years,” he said.
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Associate Professor Ken Karipidis (pictured) said concerns about the impact of mobile phone radiation were widespread and persistent.
‘There have been many studies in the past that have had conflicting conclusions, so it’s important to combine all the evidence and really let people know what’s going on.’
Associate Professor Karipidis said the project’s researchers analysed the 63 most relevant studies for signs of individual cancers and found no increased risks.
“The evidence does not show a link between mobile phone use and brain cancer or other head and neck cancers,” he said.
‘We also found no association with prolonged use, so if people use their mobile phones for 10 years or more we didn’t find an association, and we also found no association with the amount of mobile phone use, or the number of phone calls people make or the time people spend on the phone.’
Mark Elwood, honorary professor of cancer epidemiology at the University of Auckland and co-author of the study, said his findings were made with “moderate confidence”, which was the highest rating for research without access to clinical trials.
The research could not answer questions about unusual exposure to mobile phones or rare cancers because of a lack of research, he said, and its findings applied to 3G and 4G networks.
“There are no major studies on 5G networks yet, but there are studies on radars, which have similar high frequencies,” said Professor Elwood.
‘These do not show a greater risk.’
Rohan Mate, a research scientist at ARPANSA who led the organisation’s Talk to a Scientist programme, said the finding could encourage and reassure people about their safety.
“We hope these results are another way to reassure them about their safety and hopefully relieve some of their anxiety related to using technology,” he said.
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