Cell Phone Use and Brain Tumors: Urban Myth or Reality?

By Peter Kan, Sara E. Simonsen, Joseph L. Lyon and John Kestle

Everybody seems to be talking on a cell phone, from your great-grandmother to grade-school kids.  They are everywhere these days; almost everyone has one.  As a result, there has been much debate about whether the use of cell phones (low-energy radiation) causes brain tumors.

The pooled results from nine case control studies that included 5,259 brain tumor patients and 12,074 controls were looked at to determine risk.1 The results from this 2007 study, compiled and analyzed by Kan et al, concluded that there was no increased risk of brain tumors among digital and analog cell phone uses.  However, the authors point out the long-term risk of cell phone use has yet to be determined. 

For the complete details on this study, click here to view the PDF [202kb].

1. (Kan P, Simonsen SE, Lyon JL, Kestle JR. Cellular phone use and brain tumor: a meta-analysis. J Neurooncol 2007.)