Do wireless phones cause cancer?
Wireless phones (including cell phones) use radiofrequency energy, also known as radio waves. (Pagers, radio and TV broadcasts, microwaves, radar and home cordless phones also require radio waves.) Generally, it is not believed that wireless phones are harmful, but the research is conflicting. According to the Food and Drug Administration, a few studies exposing laboratory animals to radio frequency energy suggested that it accelerates the development of cancer. But in these studies some animals were exposed for up to 22 hours a day, and other animals were predisposed to cancer through genetic alteration. These conditions are not typical of humans and their use of wireless phones, so little can be assumed from the studies about human health risk. Three large epidemiological studies published in the last two years investigated a possible association between wireless phone usage and primary brain cancer, glioma, meningioma, or acoustic neuroma, tumors of the brain or salivary gland, leuk