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Do cell phones really cause cancer?

There is no firm evidence. But there is growing curiosity. And there are conflicting views.

At the Montefiore Medical Center in New York, Neurosurgery Department Chair Dr. Eugene Flamm says that the notion that cell phones may cause brain tumors because of the electromagnetic waves they emit “defies credibility.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration claims there are “no harmful effects.”

The World Health Organization says there are are no known risks and people using cell phones don’t need to take precautions.

The source of cell phone cancer concern is not debatable. Cell phones do indeed emit non-ionizing radiation. These are energy waves. They are not powerful waves, and based on what we know today they are not powerful enough to break bonds inside cells. They are not powerful enough to disrupt DNA.

But the cell phone cancer issue boils down to what we don’t know. There has been no long term research. “It takes at least 10, 20 or 30 years to see exposure to cancer.” says Dr. Siegal Sadetski with the Tel Aviv University.

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer is looking into the issue. It is pulling together different pieces of research which have already been conducted.

Later this year, the WHO will release some of the results of this project, called Interphone.

The United States is not taking part in this project. Participating countries are the UK, Australia, Canada, Finland, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden.

Interphone has done previous research into other phone related health issues. For instance, it found no dangers of cancer from the RF waves between base stations and cordless phones.