As cell phone use took hold in the 90s and 2000s, there was no significant increase in brain cancer, according to a new study.
The study looked at 60,000 people from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, but didn't track individual cell phone use. Instead, researchers evaluated cases of glioma or meningioma brain cancer between 1974 and 2003, and found that the number of diagnoses either stayed the same, decreased or increased at a rate that began even before cell phones became popular.
Some researchers have worried that the radio waves these phones emit could cause cancer. Most recently, the World Health Organization claimed to have found a link after interviewing 12,800 people.
As with any study that simply looks at one factor in relation to another, it's important to note that correlation isn't causation. You can say that there's no evidence in this study linking brain cancer to cell phone use, but you can't conclude that cell phones aren't contributing to brain cancer in any way.
Even the study's authors say that more research is needed, and that the heaviest users of cell phones could still have a moderate increased risk of brain cancer. They just don't know. The risk could be related to a certain subgroup of cancers, or may take more than 10 to 15 years to emerge. On the other hand, as Melissa Bondy of Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center told USA Today, even if this study had produced a correlation, other potential factors couldn't be ruled out.
If you're paranoid and want to completely avoid any risk, Bondy said, a Bluetooth headset or speaker phone should do the trick. Although according to one U.S. doctor, the radio waves from cell phone towers will hit you no matter what, causing all sorts of problems.
Personally, my bet's on dying from a heart attack or some other kind of cancer first. Life's too short to worry every time you make a call.
