Mobile phones 'may cause brain cancer'

WHO suggests phones might not be safe after all

31 May 2011 22:51 GMT / By Stuart Miles

It’s the news you probably don’t want to hear, after all you’re on a technology site that covers mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, and other gadgets, but according to the World Health Organization its latest research suggests there is a possibility your phone could kill you.

That’s probably putting more of a “sensational” slant on it to be fair, but WHO isn’t ruling out that mobile phones could be dangerous.

Its latest research, conducted by the WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified radio frequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B), based on an increased risk for glioma; a malignant type of brain cancer associated with wireless phone use

The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) can give mobile phones one of five scientific labels: carcinogenic, probably carcinogenic, possibly carcinogenic, not classifiable or not carcinogenic.

It concluded that mobiles should be rated as "possibly carcinogenic".

The findings are the culmination of an IARC meeting during which 31 scientists from 14 countries assessed hundreds of published studies into the potential cancer risks posed by electromagnetic fields.

So will you stop using your phone? Let us know in the comments below.

Via: iarc.fr

Full tags

Phones, World Health Organisation, Cancer