According to the Associate director of the National Toxicology Program, which conducted the study, John Bucher says that although he is not abstaining from using his cellphone, he does not use the device heavily and chats on the phone for an hour or even during the day. While the rats in the control group were not exposed to radiation and did not grow either kind of malignant tumor, for some reason they died earlier than those exposed to the radiation.
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Some cancer experts predict the new study will change that thinking.
More results of the study – including the effect of cellphone radiation on mice – will be released later in upcoming publications.
In terms of heart tumors, between 2% and 7% of the male rats exposed to the radiation developed tumors, while none of the rats exposed to radiation showed signs of tumor growth.
“Our studies are designed specifically to mimic the human exposure scenario”, said lead study author Michael Wyde in a statement.
In the latest study which was published on Friday, a team from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences carried out an experiment on two groups of hundreds of rats.
Various studies have shown that it is not healthy to stay on the phone for a long period of time.
He said people should be a lot more concerned about distractions caused by mobile phones such as distracted driving that causes more deaths, he said.
The study involved exposing rats for nine hours a day, every day, to the typical radio frequencies used in cell phone calls. That suggested that whatever effect mobile phones might have it was so small as to be undetectable amid regular cases of brain cancer.
For years, conflicting studies on the question of whether cell phone use can cause cancer have left mobile phone users without a clear answer.
The ACS praised the study for “evidence that cellphone signals could potentially impact human health” but noted it didn’t quite address the real risks to people.
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The study has intensified the ongoing debate regarding the human health risks of cellphone use. Brawley said it could be the female hormone estrogen was offering some cancer protection as had been seen in some other cancers. “Their heads are smaller than those of adults and consequently have a greater proportional exposure to the field of radiofrequency radiation that is emitted by cell phones”. Although the World Health Organisation said in 2011 that mobile phone radiation was a possible carcinogen, it designates coffee and pickled vegetables in the same category. But numerous studies over the years, before and after that listing, have found little evidence of a problem.
