Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

World Health Organization Says Mobile Phones May Cause Cancer

Posted by Roblimo on from the we're-surrounded-by-carcinogens dept.

Schiphol writes "A new study by the World Health Organization (WHO) concludes that mobile phone radiation presents a carcinogenic hazard. Are cell phones going to be the new tobacco, then?" This seems to be a new interpretation of a long-tern WHO study of possible cellphone health risks that had "inconclusive results" last May.

3 of 354 comments (clear)

  1. Calm Down, It's Only Group 2B by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Informative

    I heard this on NPR and they did a better job of putting this new classification into context (and probably detoothing the newsworthiness). It's classified by the IARC as Group 2B, not even Group 2A. The serious list is Group 1 which indicates they are carcinogenic to humans. Group 2B simply means "possibly carcinogenic to humans."

    I would like to point out that also in Group 2B are Magnetic fields (extremely low frequency), pickled vegetables, coffee, nickel and the occupation of carpentry and joinery. And you know what else? Citrus Red No. 2 which is used to color the oranges you buy in supermarkets.

    So they've put it next to coffee, coinage and food coloring. Why doesn't everyone flip out when things like those are added to Group 2B?

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Calm Down, It's Only Group 2B by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Informative

      That does not make it medicine at all. It is still just a pesticide. Otherwise it could be the safest car too.

      DDT is not banned where it is needed for Malaria control. The very treaty that made it illegal in most nations has a health exemption.

      The fact that you call people nutcases based on your lack of understanding of the actual situation is why it is most reasonable to call you an asshole. It's a perfectly accurate description of the situation.

  2. Re:The summary is, of course, wrong. by Shadowmist · · Score: 4, Informative

    Real story: the WHO lacked the guts to put this cellphone nonsense to bed once and for all. Studies that ask people with brain cancers "How much did you use your phone?" are pretty much all they had, and they seem to be the definition of "Confirmation Bias."

    In other news, the media fails science forever, but we knew that already.

    I think they did put in a bit more effort than that. low level EMF radiation is not a trivial issue. And if you read the reports instead of concentrating on being shrill they did identify particular groups at risk, such as infants whose parents use cellphone music to keep their toddlers quiet and basically park an active phone next to young developing skulls and brains for hours on end. It also depended a lot on shape, Many flip phones because of their geometry kept the radiating part sufficiently away to be much less a concern, but almsot all smartphones today are unibody designs which means the EMF emitting body and screen is in direct contact with your head.