A new study from Korea has found more evidence linking mobile phone radiation with brain tumours. Jinyoung Moon and team analysed data from 24 previous studies and found some interesting links.
- People who used mobile phones on the same side of the head as their tumour had a 40% higher risk of brain tumours than people who were not regular mobile phone users.
- People who used mobile phones on the same side of the head as their tumour had increased risks of meningioma, glioma and malignant brain tumours.
- People who used their mobile phones for over ten years had a 27% higher risk of brain tumours.
- People who used mobile phones for over 896 hours had a 59% higher risk of brain tumours. That included a 66% increased risk of glioma brain tumours and an 84% increased risk of acoustic neuromas.
The study’s authors pointed out that changing mobile phone technologies have resulted in changing patterns of exposure to the body.
‘With the conversion from 2G cellular phones through 3G and 4G mobile phones to current 5G mobile phones, transmission of large data became possible. With the introduction of 3G technology, all aspects of our society and daily lives have changed drastically. Currently, we are using mobile phones nearly continuously and putting mobile phones near our bodies even when we are not using them. For example, if people use their mobile phone for morning-alarming purposes, they might put their mobile phone near the bed, sometimes even beside their head, all night. These changed patterns of mobile phone use could increase exposure to RF-EMR from cellular and mobile phones.’
This means that it will be even more difficult to determine precise exposure of mobile phone radiation in the future, the authors said.
The results are in contrast to a recent study commissioned by the WHO and led by Associate Professor Ken Karipidis from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA). ARPANSA’s media release claimed ‘no association between mobile phone use and head cancer.’ 2
References
- Moon J, Kwon J, Mun Y. Relationship between radiofrequency-electromagnetic radiation from cellular phones and brain tumor: meta-analyses using various proxies for RF-EMR exposure-outcome assessment. Environ Health. 2024 Oct 10;23(1):82. doi: 10.1186/s12940-024-01117-8. PMID: 39390576; PMCID: PMC11465689;
- Ken Karipidis, Dan Baaken, Tom Loney, Maria Blettner, Chris Brzozek, Mark Elwood, Clement Narh, Nicola Orsini, Martin Röösli, Marilia Silva Paulo, Susanna Lagorio, The effect of exposure to radiofrequency fields on cancer risk in the general and working population: A systematic review of human observational studies – Part I: Most researched outcomes, Environment International, Volume 191, 2024, 108983, ISSN 0160-4120,
