There have been reports in the media and claims in the courts that radiofrequency (RF) emissions from mobile phones are a cause of cancer, and there have been numerous public objections to the siting of mobile phone base antennas because of a fear of cancer. This review summarizes the current state of evidence concerning whether the RF energy used for wireless communication might be carcinogenic. Relevant studies were identified by searching MedLine with a combination of exposure and endpoint terms. This was supplemented by a review of the over 1700 citations assembled by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety as part of their updating of the IEEE C95.1 RF energy safety guidelines. Where there were multiple studies, preference was given to recent reports, to positive reports of effects and to attempts to confirm such positive reports. Biophysical considerations indicate that there is little theoretical basis for anticipating that RF energy would have significant biological effects at the power levels used by modern mobile phones and their base station antennas. The epidemiological evidence for a causal association between cancer and RF energy is weak and limited. Animal studies have provided no consistent evidence that exposure to RF energy at non-thermal intensities causes or promotes cancer. Extensive in vitro studies have found no consistent evidence of genotoxic potential, but in vitro studies assessing the epigenetic potential of RF energy are limited. Overall, a weight-of-evidence evaluation shows that the current evidence for a causal association between cancer and exposure to RF energy is weak and unconvincing. However, the existing epidemiology is limited and the possibility of epigenetic effects has not been thoroughly evaluated, so that additional research in those areas will be required for a more thorough assessment of the possibility of a causal connection between cancer and the RF energy from mobile telecommunications.

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Home >> Feature Article Are mobile phones safe? Research intensifies as the public grows wary of one of its favorite communications tools By Kenneth R. Foster, University of Pennsylvania & John E. Moulder, Medical College of Wisconsin A MOTORIST USING A WIRELESS TELEPHONE might be worried about having an accident, even while being reassured that if one were to happen, he or she could call for help. Recently some scientists and lay people have expressed alarm at another possible danger-that the use of mobile phones itself may harm the user's health, perhaps even causing cancer. There is good reason to be concerned. The widespread use of hand-held mobile phones means that many people routinely place radio frequency (RF) transmitters against their heads-in some European and Asian countries, a majority of the adult population does so. That fact alone would warrant examination of the safety of this form of radiant energy. Concern about the possibility of mobile phone's ill effects on health took shape in mid-1992 in a U.S. court. A lawsuit filed in Florida by David Reynard alleged that the use of a cell phone had caused his wife's fatal brain cancer. The suit was dismissed by a Federal court in 1995 for lack of valid scientific evidence, and similar suits since have been no more successful. But they have raised questions for which no entirely satisfactory answers existed at the time they were filed. Driven in part by these disturbing allegations, a new wave of research in the United States and elsewhere is exploring possible links between cell phone radiation and cancer. Brain cancer, the topic of this article, is not the only health concern, but it dominates public discussion. Now, nearly eight years after the Reynard suit, a substantial body exists of pertinent scientific evidence. Fields and frequency Wireless communication systems operate at several frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum. In the United States, cell phones operate in two main frequency ranges-the older systems near 850 MHz, and the newer personal communications services, or PCS, near 1900 MHz. European mobile phones use the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), a different technology than most U.S. phones, and operate at slightly different frequencies, near 900 MHz and 1800 MHz. Many other applications transmit energy in nearby frequency bands [Fig. 1]. Energy in this frequency range is called non-ionizing because the photon energy is insufficient to knock electrons from atoms in living tissue, a source of serious biological damage from radiation such as X-rays. The most apparent biological effects of RF energy at cell phone frequencies are due to heating. Many mechanisms not due to heating have been demonstrated, too; but those well enough understood to be analyzed quantitatively are found to produce observable effects only at very high exposure levels. Are mobile phones safe?

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