Do Cell Phones Cause Cancer?
July 24, 2008 — The “cell phone and cancer debate” has hit the newswires again – this time following a warning from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. The center’s director sent a memo to the university staff and faculty offering tips for avoiding unnecessary exposure to the electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell phones. Those tips include: What’s different about this warning, is it comes without the support of a published study – the foundation most health reports rely upon. In fact, that’s the point. Dr. Ronald B. Herberman issued the memo precisely because he, and some others, think more research is needed to understand how cell phone usage can affect our health. Much more research. The majority of cancer research facilities, both in the US and abroad, maintain that based on existing studies, there is no conclusive evidence that points to cell phones causing cancer, and more specifically, brain tumors. But other experts, including Herberman, think we should play it s
I strongly considered leaving this question off the list, since I can’t honestly give you a straight answer. Much research has been done to investigate possible links between RF and cancer, but no studies have yet found one. Many people choose to ignore these studies, because most of them are funded by cell phone companies. They obviously have a vested interest in keeping people happy with their phones, but to suggest that they would deliberately lie to cover up the truth is a classic conspiracy theory if I ever heard one. About the only thing we know for sure about RF exposure is that it can cause localized heating. However, if slight heating of body tissue was dangerous, then we would be putting ourselves at risk any time we exerted ourselves physically, or stood around outside in the summer. To some sensitive individuals, it possible that localized heating does cause headaches and other transient maladies, but that doesn’t mean they are going to die prematurely of brain cancer. I pe
