For years, on and off, I have been hearing claims of extended cell phone use being linked to brain tumors and cancer. Some recent research in Copenhagen, Denmark refutes these claims. The researchers are associated with the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen. They:
studied 20 to 79 year old men and women from Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, and paid special attention to cancer rates during the cell phone boom of the mid-1990s. The researchers published their analysis in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Overall the study found that cancer rates were unchanged from the period before mobile phones were widely used. The study was based on 59,684 brain tumour cases diagnosed over 30 years from 1974 to 2003 among 16 million adults. During this time, the incidence rate of cancers known as gliomas increased gradually by 0.5% per year among men and by 0.2% per year among women. For cancers known as meningioma, the incidence rate increased by 0.8% among men and, after the early 1990’s, by 3.8% among women [BBC News]. The researchers say the larger meningioma increase in women is due to the greater age of the women in this group.
While this is not necessarily a complete study of cancer and the cell phone boom of the 1990s world wide, this offers some interesting evidence. The researchers agree that more work needs to be done to truly show that cell phones do not directly cause brain tumors from cell phone radiation. I have the feeling that the instances shown in Northern Europe are not anomalies. The discussion of this issue would come and go and I had not heard anything until reading this article. Hopefully more research can be done and cancer will not be a possible negative effect of a beneficial use of technology.
While this article showed us how cell phones may not be responsible for deaths of their users in one way, but it has shown me how much people use cell phones. This increased amount of cell phone use (so much so that people have become worried about cancer) is dangerous for our society and societys across the globe. While we may soon not have to worry about developing a malignant tumor due to cell phone use, we are still at risk of being plowed by somebody texting while driving. While people have often only speculated about the possibilities of cancer causing radiation being emitted straight into our brain, there are accidents everyday caused by irresponsible people more concerned with their own means of communication than the safety of others. Cell phones are an interesting piece of today's world.