SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC 4 News) – An emerging study shows that cell phones may be linked to brain cancer.
The link between cell phones and brain cancer may come from the waves that cell phones emit when they’re in use, say experts. According to a U of U physicist, the waves that radiate from cell phones, known as electromagnetic waves, emit radio frequencies at a rate of 850 million times per second.
However, according to Salt Lake Dr. Richard Ingebretsen, there is no clear answer about whether the waves can be linked to brain cancer: “It’s going to be years, or maybe even decades before we get the definitive answer, but we can not say it does not.”
Dr. Ingebretsen said that it may take a long time to come to a definitive answer because the development of cancer takes years of repeated exposure.
Ingebretsen also referred to a study by the World Health Organization, which has not yet been released to the public, which surveyed around 12,000 cell phone users over the last ten years:
“The side of the place where tumors were, were more predominant where they were using cell phones,” said Ingebretsen.
For that reason, researchers declared a link between cell phones and brain cancer.
In addition, the newly released study shows “definitively” that cell phone usage is a possible cancer risk factor.
The FCC has been taking notice of the emerging research on cell phones, and there are talks of new government guidelines, although nothing has been decided.
When it comes to text messaging, a measurement apparatus shows that the strength of wave emission decreases with distance which means that texting may be a safer option than talking on the phone.
Phone radiation is quantified in Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) which is measured in watts per kilogram so the less SAR’s a phone emits, the better. According to reviews on SAR emissions, Motorola phones have some of the highest scores while Samsung phones have some of the lowest.
