A new study published in the “Journal of the National Cancer Institute” says that there is no correlation between cell phone usage and the risk of developing brain tumours. To reach their conclusion the researchers studied the effect of radiation upon 1000 participants, many of whom were children, as the younger users are thought to be more prone to phone emissions.
Cell phone usage by children has soared during the last two decades, and according to some surveys, most youths start using mobile phones by age 9 or 10. As children have a developing nervous system, some scientists in the past have suggested that cell phone emissions could penetrate deeper into their brains. Studies have indicated that the outer brain tissue of children ages 5 to 8 may absorb twice the amount of cell phone energy absorbed by adult brains.
However, the public health data in USA and Europe does not show any corresponding rise in brain tumours in children. This is despite the fact that radiation from devices has become a fact of everyday life in urban areas. Martin Roosli, lead author of the study and an epidemiologist at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, says, “The latest research shows that a large and immediate risk of cell phones causing brain tumours in children can be excluded.”
Last year WHO (World Health Ogranisation) had concluded that cell phones were “possibly carcinogenic” to humans. However, even that technical classification did not link cell phones directly to cancer. Now the present study refutes the basic premise of the WHO report. The cell phones have been in use for almost two decades and there is little evidence to conclusively link their use to major health problems, such as the development of brain tutors.
