Study in Rodents Investigates Link Between Cell Phone Radiation and Cancer

By Stacy SimonThe US National Toxicology Program (NTP) has released partial results of a large study it’s conducting in rats and mice to try to determine whether cell phone use causes cancer. Cell phones give off a low-energy type of radiation called radiofrequency (RF) radiation when they’re in use, and that has caused concern over whether or not cell phones can increase cancer risk. Studies done in the past that looked at groups of people have had conflicting results. Some – but not all – found possible links between cell phone use and some types of tumors, especially in the head.The part of the NTP study that’s been released suggests that male rats exposed to heavy RF radiation to their whole body for long periods of time were more likely than a control group of rats to develop certain types of brain and heart tumors. There was no significant difference in tumor rates among the female rats in the study. The exposure to RF radiation began while the rats were still in the womb, and continued for about 2 years, which is all or most of their life. They were exposed for about 9 hours a day, and received levels of radiation that ranged from the upper limit of what is allowed by law for cell phones, to about 4 times higher than what is allowed.The findings released in the report focused on 2 types of tumors – gliomas of the brain and schwannomas of the heart. The study found significantly higher (although still low) rates of these tumors in the...
Source: American Cancer Society :: News and Features - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Cancer Risks/Causes Source Type: news