Smartphones do not cause brain tumors, says WHO study

A study by the World Health Organization sees no connection between the increasing use of smartphones and the occurrence of brain tumors.

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Sep 4, 2024 at 11:56 am CEST

3 min. read

By

Frank Schräer

There is no link between the use of smartphones and the risk of brain tumors, a study commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) has found. Although cell phones have become more widespread in recent years and people are spending more and more time on them, exposing them to more radio waves, the number of brain tumors has not increased to the same extent, according to the study.

Such and similar studies have been carried out regularly in this millennium. As early as 2001, a Danish study found no cancer risk from cell phones. Nevertheless, there are always concerns about potentially dangerous cell phone radiation. However, a study of adolescents and their still young brains also found that the risk of tumors in children was not increased by mobile phones.

WHO study based on many other studies

This has now been confirmed by another study, the "Effect of exposure to radiofrequency fields on cancer risk in the general population and in working people", which was not only commissioned but also partly financed by the WHO. This concerns people who not only make long cell phone calls, but who have been using cell phones for more than a decade.

The study was based on 63 studies carried out between 1994 and 2022 by 11 different groups from 10 countries. These included the Australian Government's Radiation Protection Authority. In addition to smartphones, these studies also looked at television sets and baby monitors, for example, and the effects of radio frequencies on people.

Cancer risk not proven, but also cannot be ruled out

None of these studies found increased risks, explains Mark Elwood, one of the editors of the WHO study and Professor of Cancer Epidemiology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. This meta-study includes brain tumors in adults and children as well as cancer of the pituitary gland, salivary glands and leukemia. In addition to the radio frequencies of smartphones, the study also looked at base stations and other transmitters as well as signals to which employees are exposed during their work activities.

Despite these studies and the fact that no links have yet been found between mobile communications and the occurrence of brain tumors, such cases cannot be completely ruled out. This is why the IARC, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the WHO, continues to classify mobile communications as "possibly carcinogenic". Further investigations will therefore follow.