A newly released meta-analysis commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) found no link between mobile phone use and an increased risk of brain cancer.
Reuters reports that a team of 11 investigators from 10 countries reviewed the available published evidence worldwide, comprising 63 studies from 1994 to 2022. Despite a dramatic increase in mobile phone use during this nearly three-decade period, there has been no corresponding increase in the incidence of brain cancers, the review finds. The work assessed the effect of radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields, looking at brain cancer in adults and children, as well as cancer of the pituitary gland, salivary gland and leukaemia. It also looked at RF risk in relation to mobile phone use, base stations or transmitters, as well as occupational exposure.
Mark Elwood, professor of cancer epidemiology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, told Reuters that “None of the major questions studied showed increased risk.”
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Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields have become commonplace in our modern world, used in mobile phones as well as TVs, remote controls, microwaves, baby monitors, radar and more. That ubiquity is what first prompted the WHO, through its cancer research arm the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), to investigate cancer risk in relation to RF.
The IARC first added RF to its list in 2011 “based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, associated with wireless phone use,” though they described the available evidence as “limited” and “inadequate.” Subsequent investigations, including the recent meta-analysis, have been conducted to determine whether that relationship is causal or merely correlation with little evidence for the former.
For now, RF retains its classification as “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” indicating that while there is some evidence, the data remains far from conclusive. It is the third highest risk classification out of five and includes agents ranging from lead to gasoline engine exhaust to pickled vegetables. The IARC will release an updated evaluation in the first quarter of 2025.
