Are you afraid that cell phones cause cancer? Check out what the experts say and find out whether radiation from a mobile device is dangerous.
Use a cell phone daily? Getting headaches and feeling concerned?
As with many items we use daily, some people are concerned whether or not our cell phones could possibly be giving us cancer.
It’s a fact that radiation given off by mobile phones sits right next to our heads.
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While a firm skull sits between the culprit and our brain, frequent use of cellphones is on the rise and it does seem like something that could cause some concern.
But are people’s worries worth worrying about?
The bad news first: Back in 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), determined that cell phone use was “possibly carcinogenic to humans”.
The good news is that most experts agree that not enough research has been done related to cell phone use and cancer, and that the evidence found by the IARC isn’t strong enough. More research is needed, they say.
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‘They’ in this case includes these institutions listed by the National Cancer Institute: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the American Cancer Society (ACS).
So, it’s a pretty safe bet that more research really is needed.
Radiation
But what IS going on when we talk on the phone?
The National Cancer Institute states that basically, cell phones emit non-ionizing radio waves. These radio waves don’t affect humans in the same way that being exposed to the radiation from x-rays does.
The only “consistently recognized biological effect” of radio waves produced by cell phones is heating. In other words, your cell phone heats up the side of your face, and that’s about it.
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The heat isn’t enough to warm up your whole body obviously, so no worries there. It’s just a mild facial warmth.
So, if you find you are having frequent headaches, you should definitely contact your doctor, but it’s likely not being caused by your phone. We’re likely not really nuking ourselves by calling home from the grocery store.
For more information about it all, check out the National Cancer Institute’s website.
Photo credit: ImYanis/Shutterstock
