Study: Cancer Risk Increases with Heavier Cell Phone Use

By B.N. Frank

Government, independent and industry funded research has determined that exposure to cell phone radiation can at least increase cancer risk (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Children seem to be more vulnerable to exposure (see 1, 2). This is not breaking news. Over the years, there have been numerous articles, TV news segments, and even documentaries produced about exposure risks from cell phones and other sources of wireless “WiFi” radiation. Last year another study determined more of the same. Go figure.

From Electromagnetic Radiation Safety:

New review study finds that heavier cell phone use increases tumor risk

That the National Cancer Center of South Korea has now decided to issue a press release promoting the results of our study (published last November) seems significant because, like the U.S., the telecom industry in South Korea is very powerful. If this news story is reported by the popular press, people may take more precautions in using cell phones.

“The longer the cell phone is used, the higher the risk of cancer.”

Song Soo-yeon, Youth Doctor Newsletter, February 15, 2021 (Google translation from Korean)

National Cancer Center Professor Seung-kwon Myung’s team, joint research with Seoul Medical University and UC Berkeley meta-analysis

Research shows that using a mobile phone for a long time increases the risk of developing cancer such as brain tumors.

Prof. Seung-Kwon Myung (President of Graduate School) of National Cancer Center, Professor of Preventive Medicine, Seoul Medical University, and Joel Moskowitz, Director of Center for Family and Community Health, UC Berkeley School of Public Health. It was revealed on the 15th that the meta-analysis of 46 case-control studies published in international journals from 1999 to 2015 revealed the result.

As a result of a meta-analysis of 46 research papers through literature search in the major medical databases, PUBMed and EMBASE, the researchers found the relationship between people who use mobile phones and those who do not did not make a big difference.

However, the results of detailed meta-analysis by major research groups and qualitative levels were different. Sweden’s Hardell team, who published the most research on the subject, announced that the use of mobile phones increases the risk of developing tumors.

Professor Myung, who led the study, emphasized, “This study supports the results of some laboratory and animal studies that show that high-frequency electromagnetic fields (frequency 800-2000 MHz) exposed when using mobile phones can accelerate cancer development.”

He said, “As a result of analyzing the reasons for the differences in the results of each research team, it was possible to confirm that the quality of the research, the response rate of the research subjects, and the availability of research funding from the mobile phone company were important factors.” The quality of the study is high, there is little difference in response rate between the patient group and the control group, while research funding is not provided from a mobile phone company, a multinational interphone study organized by the International Cancer Research Organization (IARC) under the World Health Organization The team’s research was of low quality, there was a lot of difference in response rate, and the research funding was provided by mobile phone companies.”

He said, “The results of the Hardell research team’s research that the use of mobile phones increases the risk of tumors can be interpreted as more convincing,” he said. “Moreover, regardless of the research team, the case of using a mobile phone for more than 1,000 hours* the tumor risk was statistically significantly higher (interval ratio 1.60, 95% confidence interval 1.12-2.30)”.

He continued, “Even before the dangers of cell phones are clearly identified, we recommend that you refrain from using cell phones for a long period of time based on the precautionary principle. It is necessary to reduce the use, and when using a mobile phone, keep it 2~3 centimeters away from the face and use earphones with wires as much as possible.”

The research results were published in the November 2020 issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, an international academic journal of SCIE.

* which corresponds to about 17 minutes per day over 10 years

Original press release in Korean: http://www.docdocdoc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=2007713

November 2, 2020

A review of research on cell phone use and tumor risk found that cell phone use with cumulative call time more than 1000 hours significantly increased the risk of tumors.

(Berkeley, CA, November 2, 2020) Today, the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health published a systematic review and meta-analysis of the case-control research on cell phone use and tumor risk.

This study updates our original meta-analysis (i.e., quantitative research review) published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2009. The new review examined twice as many studies as our original paper.

“In sum, the updated comprehensive meta-analysis of case-control studies found significant evidence linking cellular phone use to increased tumor risk, especially among cell phone users with cumulative cell phone use of 1000 or more hours in their lifetime (which corresponds to about 17 min per day over 10 years), and especially among studies that employed high quality methods.”

The abstract and excerpts from this open access paper appear below:

Yoon-Jung Choi+, Joel M. Moskowitz+, Seung-Kwon Myung*, Yi-Ryoung Lee, Yun-Chul Hong*. Cellular Phone Use and Risk of Tumors: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020, 17(21), 8079; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17218079.

Abstract

We investigated whether cellular phone use was associated with increased risk of tumors using a meta-analysis of case-control studies. PubMed and EMBASE were searched from inception to July 2018. The primary outcome was the risk of tumors by cellular phone use, which was measured by pooling each odds ratio (OR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI). In a meta-analysis of 46 case-control studies, compared with never or rarely having used a cellular phone, regular use was not associated with tumor risk in the random-effects meta-analysis. However, in the subgroup meta-analysis by research group, there was a statistically significant positive association (harmful effect) in the Hardell et al. studies (OR, 1.15—95% CI, 1.00 to 1.33— n = 10), a statistically significant negative association (beneficial effect) in the INTERPHONE-related studies (case-control studies from 13 countries coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC); (OR, 0.81—95% CI, 0.75 to 0.89—n = 9), and no statistically significant association in other research groups’ studies. Further, cellular phone use with cumulative call time more than 1000 hours statistically significantly increased the risk of tumors. This comprehensive meta-analysis of case-control studies found evidence that linked cellular phone use to increased tumor risk.

+Contributed equally to this study as the first author. *Correspondence.

Excerpts

3.5. Exposure–Response Relationship Between Use of Cellular Phones and Risk of Tumors

Table 3 shows an exposure-response relationship between cellular phone use and tumor risk. In the subgroup meta-analysis by time since first use or latency, overall the risk of tumors by cellular phone use non-significantly increased from an OR of 0.97 to 1.29 as latency increased from less than 5 years to 10 or more years. This finding was observed in each subgroup meta-analysis by research group. Especially, statistically significant increased tumor risk was observed for latency of 10 or more years in the Hardell studies (OR, 1.62; 1.03 to 2.57; n = 5; I2 = 39.9%). Similarly, the use of cellular phones non-significantly increased the risk of tumors as the cumulative or lifetime use in years and the cumulative number of calls increased in all studies and in each study group. Remarkably, in the subgroup meta-analysis of all studies by cumulative call time, cellular phone use greater than 1000 hours statistically significantly increased the risk of tumors (OR, 1.60; 1.12 to 2.30; n = 8; I2 = 74.5%). Interestingly, the use of cellular phones overall and in the Hardell studies (OR, 3.65; 1.69 to 7.85; n = 2, especially in the Hardell studies) non significantly increased the risk of tumors with cumulative call time of 300–1000 h and more than 1000 h, while it decreased the risk of tumors in most subgroup meta-analyses of the INTERPHONE studies.

Conclusions

In sum, the updated comprehensive meta-analysis of case-control studies found significant evidence linking cellular phone use to increased tumor risk, especially among cell phone users with cumulative cell phone use of 1000 or more hours in their lifetime (which corresponds to about 17 min per day over 10 years), and especially among studies that employed high quality methods. Further quality prospective studies providing higher level of evidence than case-control studies are warranted to confirm our findings.

This open access paper and supplemental material can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/cellphonetumor.

Related Posts on Electromagnetic Radiation Safety

In regard to 5G, doctors, scientists, and telecom whistleblowers have endorsed a petition to boycott 5G phones.

The Phonegate Alert Team and other like-minded organizations raise awareness about exposure risks as well as litigation against cell phones for excessive radiation levels (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).

Activist Post reports regularly about unsafe technology. For more information, visit our archives and the following websites:

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