Cell Phones and Your Brain

By:
Charles Noe

Reviewed By:
Martin E. Liebling, M.D., FACP

A cancer expert's advice to restrict use of cell phones has revived the long-simmering debate over whether or not the handy gadgets raise the risk of brain cancer. You don't need to throw your mobile under the bus, but there are precautions you can take if you're concerned:

• Keep cell phones away from your head. Use a speakerphone, headset or remote antenna. Regular headphones may be safer than Bluetooth earpieces; however, regular headphones may decrease the ability to hear outside sounds such as traffic or sirens.
  
  
• Use your cell only for short calls. Use your landline when you can.
  
  
• Set limits on your kids' use of cell phones.
  

The controversy

Dr. Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, made headlines when he advised staff to limit their cell phone use because of a possible risk of cancer. Children should use cell phones only in emergencies because their brains are still developing, he wrote. It's the first time such a warning has come from a major academic cancer research institution.

Herberman and 22 other prominent doctors, medical researchers and health officials warned in a statement, "The most recent studies, which include subjects with a history of cell phone usage during the last 10 years, show a possible association between certain benign tumors ... and some brain cancers on the side the device is used."

Cell phones operate on radio frequencies and release low levels of electromagnetic radiation. There's a theory that long-term exposure to this radiation could increase the risk of tumors, possibly by altering DNA or heating brain cells. However, the American Cancer Society says, "Cell phones wouldn't be expected to cause cancer because they don't emit ionizing radiation," which is "the type that damages DNA and is known to have the ability to cause cancer."

Studies are mixed. Some research studies have found an association between cell phone use and risk of brain tumors, but other studies have found no connection. At the University of Utah, a 2008 review of studies "found no overall increased risk of brain tumors among cellular phone users." However, long-term studies have not been completed. The Utah review includes some of the studies cited by Herberman and his colleagues, but they also referred to new findings, not yet published, from a 13-nation project called Interphone.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has this to say: "The available scientific evidence does not show that any health problems are associated with using wireless phones. There is no proof, however, that wireless phones are absolutely safe."

As the National Research Council has pointed out, people aren't dropping dead from using cell phones but we need to know more about the potential health effects of this and similar technology, such as:

• Long-term exposure to cell phones and other wireless devices, particularly on pregnant women, fetuses and children
  
  
• The rapid growth of wireless networks, along with base station antennas and electromagnetic fields
  
  
• Changes in handheld cell phone antenna design
  
  
• Exposure of more parts of the body to radiofrequency energy due to texting, emailing and Bluetooth technology
  

"We just don't have the kind of data that says what 10-, 20-, 30-year exposure is going to do. It's hard data to get, and there are many confounding factors, so it's just going to take time," University of Colorado engineering professor Frank S. Barnes, chairman of a National Research Council report, has noted.

Even if it turns out that cell phones aren't harming our brains, there are other reasons to hang up: They've become an obsession with children, are a hazard when crossing the street, are impairing teens' sleep, and the use of cell phones by teens or adults while driving is a distraction that may snarl traffic and cause accidents.

More: What do you think about the possible risks of cell phones? Check out the message boards -- try Hot Topics in Health, Child Health, Cancer Survivors and more.