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Study Finds No Link Between Mobile Phones and Cancer (Again)

judgecorp writes "A Danish study of more than 350,000 people found no correlation between using a mobile phone and getting cancer. The results backs up previous work, but researchers say more work is needed to be completely sure."

21 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. I expect... by eexaa · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...someone here telling that mobile phones may not cause damage to us, but they certainly make bees behave weird and die.

    1. Re:I expect... by Mister+Fright · · Score: 2

      Huh. I thought bees communicated by dancing or something.

    2. Re:I expect... by Nabeel_co · · Score: 2

      Well shit, If it kills bees, It's gotta kill us!

    3. Re:I expect... by Dewin · · Score: 3, Informative

      Increased EM radiation from rising cellphone use is one speculated cause of Colony Collapse Disorder

      --
      Of course nobody reads the FAQ! If people read the FAQ, the Questions wouldn't be so Frequently Asked.
    4. Re:I expect... by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 3, Funny

      That is sooooo 1990 of you. Join the 21st century- even bees have iPhones now.

      The GPS function on it has revolutionized nectar collection.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    5. Re:I expect... by jklovanc · · Score: 2

      Guess you should read the information you link. here is a quote from that article.

      In April 2011, a study conducted by a former investigator of the EPFL École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne appeared, which stated that active mobile phones placed directly inside a beehive can induce the worker piping signal (in natural conditions, worker piping either announces the swarming process of the bee colony or is a signal of a disturbed bee colony); the author mentioned that "phones are not present in the close vicinity of honeybees in real life" and did not demonstrate what negative effect, if any, worker piping might have within a colony, nor was any link to CCD demonstrated.[110]

      All other references to electromagnetic radiation dealt with other types.

  2. Re:What about the other studies? by Nabeel_co · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, If you look at those studies closely, most of them say that there is no link, just a slight correlation.

    Those studies are usually mis quoted, or taken out of context. Assuming they are not bias.

  3. Re:What about the other studies? by errandum · · Score: 2

    If their sample says there is, they write that there is, if then another study finds no cancer when exposing things to cell phones, they write that there isn't.

    What I think is that there is such a low incidence, even if it exists, that it'll be almost impossible to prove conclusively.

  4. Re:What about the other studies? by Spad · · Score: 4, Informative

    Those that aren't in the "We took 30 cancer patients and asked them if they used cell phones" category have generally not been statistically significant.

    There's a good article about it here: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100090300/do-mobile-phones-really-cause-cancer-probably-not-again/ from a little earlier this year.

    Generally, phones causing cancer is much more "interesting" than phones not causing cancer, so the studies that show even the slightest hint that they might garner far more attention from the media than they probably should, whereas those that don't have to be much more significant (like this one) before they get decent coverage.

  5. Re:What about the towers? by ustolemyname · · Score: 3, Informative

    Radio output from the tower at 200 feet is nothing compared to a cell phone two inches from your brain. Inverse square law, QED.

  6. No amount of proof is enough. by Kenja · · Score: 4, Insightful

    People who believe that cell phones cause cancer and vaccines cause autism will never be convenced by any amount of evidence.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  7. Should be pretty obvious by now by some1001 · · Score: 5, Informative

    E=hf.

    Visible light does not cause cancer. UV, XRay, and Gamma (all higher frequency than visible) do cause cancer.

    Even if we knew nothing about the fact that we are exposed to so much radio and microwave radiation on a daily basis, does it not make sense that electromagnetic radiation below visible light should also not cause cancer (that is, for it to not be an ionizing radiation)?

    I mean, who cares if your brain dissipates some radio energy to heat in the brain? Has a small temperature in a localized part of the body caused cancer in the past? Unless the heat dissipated raises the temperature of the brain over 104, I do not see much concern.

  8. Obligatory XKCD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    http://xkcd.com/925/

  9. Living causes cancer by gstrickler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So stop worrying about all the things that contribute so little to the risk that a 350,000 person study can't identify a link. Enjoy your life, and avoid the things with a strong correlation to cancer, like tobacco, excessive UV exposure, high levels of radioactivity, etc.

    We don't need more study of a link between cell phone usage and cancer, because repeated studies have shown that any risk is too low to measure even in large studies of long term users, therefore, too low to worry about.

    --
    make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
  10. But I started smoking. by chrisj_0 · · Score: 2

    I gave up the cell phone last week coz I thought it would cause cancer. Now I smoke 2 packs a day and I'm going through cell phone withdraws FML

  11. Re:pointless by aintnostranger · · Score: 2

    any study with 350 000 people would have found strong correlation between smoking and cancer no matter which decade it was made.

  12. More testing is needed! by Arancaytar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Maybe 25th time is the charm: "Significant link found between cellphones running Windows Phone, p < 0.05!"

  13. Re:What about the other studies? by Sique · · Score: 2

    Years of subscription is a good proxy for the total exposation (and that's what matters here!).

    Of course there are people who were heavy users from the beginning, while others got their phone just recently and aren't using it much.
    And there are people who refrained from getting a cell phone as long as possible, and are now heavy users because circumstances were so pressing that they finally went for a cell phone.

    But in the end, it will get out on average, and in each of the groups, there are heavy users and users who seldom use a cell phone.

    --
    .sig: Sique *sigh*
  14. But, but, but... by RManning · · Score: 2

    But I heard that almost everyone who is getting brain cancer now is a mobile phone user. How can that be?

  15. Amateur Radio Operators study? by JSBiff · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder, in the last 100 years, has anyone done any study on Amateur Radio Operators and their families?

    Most hams have antennas, on their roofs, or in the back yard, radiating hundreds or in some cases, up to 1500 Watts of power.

    Seems like doing a cancer risk study on them might provide some useful insight into the question of whether RF exposure can possibly increase risk of cancer?

  16. Re:What about the other studies? by am+2k · · Score: 2

    But think about someone living under the roof in an apartment below a cell tower. This is something I'd like to see a study about.

    Are you aware that cell towers don't emit directly towards the ground? You're probably much better off than any house in the vicinity. And for those, the inverse-square law kicks in.