Partial findings from a two-year US government study released yesterday found a link between exposure to cellphone radiation and two types of cancers in male rats, possibly adding new urgency to the debate over the potential for cellphone use to cause cancer.
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When researchers exposed rats to the radiofrequency radiation emitted by cell phones, they saw higher incidence of two types of cancer: gliomas in the brain and schwannomas in the heart.
NTP findings: The NTP study found elevated levels of brain and heart cancer in male rats, with female rates exhibiting lower rates of both types of cancers.
The unsettling findings are the result of a US$25 million study by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) – a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – which has been underway for the past 2.5 years.
“Federal researchers have rushed out results from a study that shows cellphone radiation might cause brain and heart tumors in rats”. In light of the findings, the Academy continues to reinforce its recommendation that parents should limit use of cell phones by children and teens.
While the study found what Bucher called a likely cause of cancer in rats, he cautioned that how that applies to humans “is not now completely worked out”. Unlike the radiation given off by atomic bombs, the non-ionizing radiation emitted by phones is too weak to damage the DNA inside cells. In the brain also, there was a significant, positive trend in the incidences of malignant gliomas in males exposed to radiation, the study said.
National Toxicology Program associate director John Bucher admits that further investigation is will need to be conducted to determine of cellphone radiation can cause cancer tumors.
Previous research in rodents has found that exposing animals to cell phone radiation across their entire bodies for only an hour a day or six hours a day for a shorter number of days did not lead to increases in the rates of lymphomas and brain tumors, respectively.
For example, they pointed out that the study exposed rats to very high levels of cellphone radiation, beginning in the womb and then through the first two years of the rats’ life.
The findings are significant for the majority of humans on Earth, with a 2013 United Nations report finding that out of the world’s seven billion people, six billion had access to mobile phones.
The results appear to confirm human evidence used by the World Health Organization that declared cell phone radiation a possible carcinogen.
Female rats developed fewer tumors. Still, other government-funded studies have made connections between cell phones’ electromagnetic fields and changes in brain activity.
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In a statement to the Associated Press, the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates cellphones, said it was monitoring the research. “Scientific evidence always informs FCC rules on this matter”.
