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Study of Cellphone Risks Finds 'Some Evidence' of Link To Cancer, At Least In Male Rats (nytimes.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: For decades, health experts have struggled to determine whether or not cellphones can cause cancer. On Thursday, a federal agency released the final results of what experts call the world's largest and most costly experiment to look into the question. The study originated in the Clinton administration, cost $30 million and involved some 3,000 rodents. The experiment, by the National Toxicology Program, found positive but relatively modest evidence that radio waves from some types of cellphones could raise the risk that male rats develop brain cancer. But he cautioned that the exposure levels and durations were far greater than what people typically encounter, and thus cannot "be compared directly to the exposure that humans experience." Moreover, the rat study examined the effects of a radio frequency associated with an early generation of cellphone technology, one that fell out of routine use years ago. Any concerns arising from the study thus would seem to apply mainly to early adopters who used those bygone devices, not to users of current models.

The lowest level of radiation in the federal study was equal to the maximum exposure that federal regulations allow for cellphone users. That level of exposure rarely occurs in typical cellphone use, the toxicology agency said. The highest level was four times higher than the permitted maximum. The rodents in the studies were exposed to radiation nine hours a day for two years -- far longer even than heavy users of cellphones. For the rats, the exposures started before birth and continued until they were about 2 years old. Some 2 to 3 percent of the male rats exposed to the radiation developed malignant gliomas, a deadly brain cancer, compared to none in a control group that received no radiation. Many epidemiologists see no overall rise in the incidence of gliomas in the human population.
"The study also found that about 5 to 7 percent of the male rats exposed to the highest level of radiation developed certain heart tumors, called schwannomas, compared to none in the control group," the NYT reports.

It's worth nothing that the rats were exposed to radiation at a frequency of 900 megahertz, the frequency used in the second generation of cellphones that prevailed in the 90s, when the study was first conceived. For comparison, fourth generation (4G) and fifth generation (5G) phones employ much higher frequencies, which are "far less successful at penetrating the bodies of humans and rats," the NYT reports.

153 comments

  1. Repeat after me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Non ionizing radiation. How many of these bullshit articles are you gonna post?

    1. Re: Repeat after me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seems to me that this might lead to a new discovery in physics

    2. Re: Repeat after me by hey! · · Score: 1

      5% of the time you get statistically significant results by chance. But assuming this is a reproducible effect you're jumping the gun by attributing it to a specific mechanism.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    3. Re:Repeat after me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Near field. Have you heard of it?

    4. Re:Repeat after me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just because we don't yet know the mechanism of interaction doesn't mean that we cannot measure the possible effects.

    5. Re: Repeat after me by infolation · · Score: 2

      Or at least, when a rat asks for a cellphone, don't give it a second generation one.

    6. Re: Repeat after me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      TL;DR: Science is wrong when it says what I don't like.

    7. Re: Repeat after me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Changes jack squat about a photons energy retard.

    8. Re:Repeat after me by Bengie · · Score: 1

      Non-ionizing radiation may not cause cancer via DNA alternation, but possibly via heating. If this is the case, then anything that causes localized heating could increase risks.

    9. Re: Repeat after me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If non-ionizing radiation can't be harmful, then put your head in a microwave oven and turn it on. Make sure to bypass the door safety trigger.

    10. Re:Repeat after me by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Non-ionizing? So what? That just means it isn't ionizing radiation, which we know to be terrible for you.
      Non-ionizing radiation absolutely still has the potential to be harmful.

  2. Wifi Calling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd kind of like to see that by default, if your phone sees a wifi connection. Wifi should use less power than cell connections. Verizon seems to support it, but if it worked well enough to make it normally the default, if the signals checks out good, then you could reduce the energy your brain is exposed to.

    1. Re: Wifi Calling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is demonstratively wrong. The first iPhone I had could last 4 hours on the edge network and no more than 3 on WiFi. Not much different with the newer ones

    2. Re: Wifi Calling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, the parent post is not wrong. Your logic is what's at fault here.

      When you're not using WiFi, you only have the cell signal being broadcast.

      When you connect to WiFi, it doesn't turn off the cell signal, so you have two signals being broadcast.

      If the WiFi was using more power than your cell phone signal, your battery life would have been cut far more than it was.

      In numerical terms, your cell phone signal will max out at 2-3 watts (depending on the specific phone) while the WiFi signal will generally be no more than 0.5 watts.

  3. What's that bullshit supposed to be? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    So you radiated the rats way more than even a cellphone addict teen could be and they're not conclusive because of that?

    Then why the fuck did you do it?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re: What's that bullshit supposed to be? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, you see, if you have a narrative to push (and you need research grants to pay your salary), then you have to engage in creative marketing to get that money.

      Hysterical news stories from reporters that also need readership/clicks help with that.

      So, you get people blasting ridiculous amounts of radiation at some poor animal, cherry picking temperatures, treating every tropical storm as if the book of revelations is real and upon us, etc.

    2. Re:What's that bullshit supposed to be? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well at least now we know its worthwhile to do further tests with lower exposure. If it drops to 0.5% that get cancer its still pretty significant

    3. Re:What's that bullshit supposed to be? by No+Longer+an+AC · · Score: 1

      This is one reason why I sometimes don't read the articles.

      Someone like you will always come around and summarize it in one or two sentences. Even if your summary is inaccurate, I'm unlikely to stop using my phones. I'm at so much risk from developing cancer from so many other factors that I would be lucky if I only got cancer from my phone.

      And what about all the WiFi signals constantly entering my head and passing through my body?

      What if someday we find out that low doses of radiation from phones actually provide a protective effect on our cells and WiFi signals actually stimulate the brain?

    4. Re:What's that bullshit supposed to be? by N1AK · · Score: 1

      Two reasons for starters: Because if they don't detect a significant risk at that level of exposure in rats then it makes it relatively safe to assume there wouldn't be a high risk at lower levels in humans. It might also impact on decisions about what level of emissions should be acceptable in future. Are you really struggling that hard to come up with a reason?

    5. Re:What's that bullshit supposed to be? by Greyfox · · Score: 1

      That's like they do. Turns out a high enough dosage of pretty much anything over a long enough period of time will give you cancer. Oddly it only seems to affect male rats that way and even though they get cancer the rats live longer than the control group. That's odd. Someone should probably look into all that a bit more.

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  4. Great headline by LostMyBeaver · · Score: 1

    Now, all the morons that go on and on about cell phone radiation in the first place and wouldn't understand the vast majority of the article and therefore won't read it will have all the evidence they need to support their claims.

    A better headline would have focused on saying "Cell phone radiation safe for humans".

    But if you don't believe me... ask the Anti-vaxxers about scientific proof published as headlines.

    1. Re:Great headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Cell phone radiation safe for humans". -Is exactly false, as stated and in general. You must be another Republican illiterate who can't understand granular concepts required for science. We pity you.

    2. Re:Great headline by rl117 · · Score: 2

      "Cell phone radiation safe for humans". No scientist would ever say that. Science is about falsifying hypotheses, not proving hypotheses. You can prove experimentally that a hypothesis is incorrect, but you can never prove that it is correct. See Karl Popper. So you can never prove that something does no harm, but you can prove that it causes harm under certain conditions. We already know that microwaves are harmful, that's not in question. The question is the degree of harm under certain conditions.

    3. Re:Great headline by Methuseus · · Score: 2

      That headline would be completely inaccurate. It's found a small risk, but not nonexistent.

      --
      Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, though I'm not yet sure about the universe. - A Einstein
    4. Re:Great headline by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      "Cell phone radiation safe for humans". No scientist would ever say that. Science is about falsifying hypotheses, not proving hypotheses. You can prove experimentally that a hypothesis is incorrect, but you can never prove that it is correct. See Karl Popper. So you can never prove that something does no harm, but you can prove that it causes harm under certain conditions. We already know that microwaves are harmful, that's not in question. The question is the degree of harm under certain conditions.

      In that case, no scientist would ever say "drinking water is safe for humans" because of the minuscule but real chance of it killing you.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    5. Re:Great headline by rl117 · · Score: 1

      Correct. Think about it, how would you prove it to be safe? You can test it for various things: heavy metals, phosphates, nitrates, salinity, acidity, alkalinity, see if it kills fish (they actually do this, by running the water through a set of fish tanks to pick up on any sources of acute toxicity). But all those tests are checking specific things or conditions. You can't check for every possible contaminant. There are unknowns. It is logically not possible to say that it is safe. It is only possible to say that it is known to have been tested for x, y, and z and shown to have levels below certain acceptable thresholds. And it's not about "chance". It's not probability being considered here. It's simply that it's not logically provable. Have a read of the wikipedia page for Karl Popper. It's taught as part of basic scientific philosophy for all science courses.

    6. Re: Great headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, there is zero proof that any radio frequency radiation is harmful unless it is at a level that induces heating in your body and burns or cooks you.

    7. Re: Great headline by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Damn, u dumb.

    8. Re:Great headline by LostMyBeaver · · Score: 1

      Ok... I'm not even sure where to start on this one.

      You missed the entire point. It was about the headline which is as far as most people will read. If you don't like the wording of the headline, offer an alternative. I was tired and didn't take the time to consider that people on Slashdot would actually go into a whole summary about scientific method.

      I also am pretty damn sure that whoever wrote the headline was not the scientists performing the research. I could be wrong... but ok.

      I'll happily yield and say "Cell phone radiation not dangerous enough to humans to bother with. Scientists have better proof than you do."

      Dude... I'm not a journalist, I'm a sofa critic. The wording of the headline as it stands now will have a shitload of fruitcakes screaming "Look, I was right!!! Cell phone radiation IS HARMFUL"

      And yes, you can prove something does no harm. I can prove that jumping off a cliff is harmful but not jumping isn't.

      Medicine is a substitute for science until such time as we have the first damn clue how the body works and can explain how it functions. We can't even explain simple chemical reactions at this point and are still waiting on quantum computing to handle even basic chemistry problems. We sure as hell can't explain how anything interacts with something as complex as an amoeba, let's not even consider saying we know anything about the human body. It's all guess work. Like "If we nuke the shit out of this guy but not that guy... the first one seems to turn black and crumble to ash while the second one doesn't. From this we can conclude that the second subject must have applied sun cream properly when he was 11 years old". Now... since we have a pattern of you missing the point established, the point I was making is that medical research works almost by accident. I was making an exaggerated example of what most medical research looks like compared to someone that prefers science.

      And before you start in on it... I know we depend on medicine now as a substitute to real science because we don't have a clue how a cell works. We need to make these "educated guesses" which are so impressively stupid that we still consider poisoning and nuking people a form of medicine because we simply don't understand how to do anything smarter. Instead of trying to solve fundamental problems in medicine like early detection, doctors spend all their time focusing on how to solve problems when they're already too late.

      The whole "Health monitoring watch" thing is a huge improvement to medicine on many levels... consider this. If a person gets cancer (and we probably all have cancer at some point or another, but it disappears because of a cancelling out as a function of cellular growth and decay), we detect that cancer because we're waiting for cancer to grow to a scale which is detectable via symptoms or lumps. There are woman all over the world getting their breast groped in an attempt to find lumps that are big enough to detect. How many layers of stupid do we need on this planet? I mean honestly, some idiotic doctor is going to radiate, cut, poison, etc... the breast and prove he's a fucking genius by showing he can point, radiate or cut just enough to kill the cancer but not too much that he kills the patient. And the bitch of it is... he may not get enough of it in time.

      And this is what counts as smart people performing medicine

      Let's try something less stupid for a moment. We have technology used in airports to let a bunch of pervs in security get their rocks off on what people look like beneath their clothes. These systems are absolutely horrible at the job they were designed for... they do little more than let some pervs get all nasty in a quiet room whenever a teenage boy or girl gets scanned. That technology is based on almost exactly the same technology we use for taking pictures of babies in their mommies bellies when they're little more than a few hundred thousand cells. Hell, that technology can even do 3d now.

      Then there's machine lear

  5. Frequency by Immerman · · Score: 1

    >"far less successful at penetrating the bodies of humans and rats"
    Really?

    Google indicates that 3G typically operates between 1.8GHz and 2.5GHz, 4G between 2 and 8GHz, and 5G between 0.6Ghz and 6GHz, as well as 24-86 GHz

    For comparison, microwave ovens, famous for cooking things from the inside out, operate at 2.45GHz. Now, that's tuned to be really well absorbed by oils and water for the purpose of cooking - but it seems to me that 3G, 4G, and the lower range of 5G all straddle that frequency quite nicely, and unless they specifically avoid that particular band, should be expected to have a very similar effect. Not on the same scale of course - unless your phone is transmitting a narrow-band 1+kW signal, but any bio-molecular response is going to happen one microwave photon at a time.

    --
    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    1. Re:Frequency by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      So you're saying these advanced rats were using microwaves also?

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      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    2. Re:Frequency by SuricouRaven · · Score: 2

      Microwaves don't really operate at 2.45GHz. They operate at 2.45GHertzish. Their tuning varies between 'crap' and 'god-awful' - the magnetron is a means of generating microwave energy at very high power levels, not at precise frequency, and magnetrons intended for microwave ovens are not manufactured to the high tolerances expected in communications.

  6. Re:Male 'rats? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You know, when you call your intellectual betters "rats" it just lowers yourself on the scale, relatively. You'd be somewhere around predatory worm, or maybe a slime mold. Obviously treasonous nazi faggots don't exist in nature.

    (You'll be extinct soon enough either way)

  7. Re:Male 'rats? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh snap, nazi coward got his ass kicked again! Well, throw the corpse on the pile. We're burying these nazi faggots in a few days en masse. Mueller has been digging all year long, he's just about done.

  8. Doesn't take into account changing usage patterns by Powercntrl · · Score: 2

    Most people use their smartphones for data/texting these days, rather than voice calls. You'd assume there'd be an increased incidence of hand cancer if modern cell phone radio emissions were carcinogenic.

    --

    ---
    DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
  9. Answers by SuperKendall · · Score: 0

    Female Democrats:
          Get cancer only after being asked for consent.

    Republicans:
          Gets cancer but also free concert tickets to not say anything.

    Socialists:
          Even the cellphone gets cancer.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Answers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No Republicans, Democrats, Socialists, ordinary non political people, get cancer about 20% of them at random.

      It's a pity John McCain is dead (brain cancer) because Republicans will get to kill healthcare for anyone who gets cancer. And they will die. But hey, dead people can't vote against Republicans, so that's OK. Someone will have crunched the numbers on that.

      And everyone has a 4 out of 5 chance of not getting cancer. So fingers crossed.
      And if you don't? Well as long as your a millionaire, you should be able to pay for the cancer treatment.

      And millionaires tend to vote Republican, so the dead people actually help the Republican vote. I'm guessing your old SuperKendall, old and Republican, and so far haven't been hit with medical bill that bankrupts you.

  10. 4G is on all bands by isdnip · · Score: 1

    The article is full of guano to say that 4G is only on higher frequencies. 1G analog was on 800 MHz. 2G went on all bands, as did 3G and 4G. So 4G LTE is on 600 MHz up to 2.6 GHz. 5G goes on higher frequencies too. But the old 800 MHz licenses are still in use, not for analog or even 2G.
    Fools think that cell towers are dangerous. But if the antenna is up a tower, it's out of your way, and if you're near it, the phone near your head transmits with less power. The phone near your head uses maximum power when it doesn't have all those bars from a local cell. The main risk to a cell tower is from climbing it.

    1. Re:4G is on all bands by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Some of what you said was true, but they have small cell towers on top of regular apartment buildings in places without regulations stopping that. You also have dozens/hundreds of devices nearby riding a bus, etc.

      Of course the inverse square rule X length of exposure X intensity of exposure still applies, but it's all cumulative. Then you have kids who spend 6-12 hours on the phone per day, literally addicts. It adds up to real issues.

      Saying it's "safe" like some moron tried to do above because the cancer is still 1-2% rare in this relatively high exposure level experiment is NOT DETERMINED. The last several studies prove more study is needed to find out.

      The incidents of tumors on the "dominant phone side" of the head on 20-30 year olds is greater than the bell curve would otherwise indicate. There's something there at least for some % of the population. It's worth knowing.

    2. Re:4G is on all bands by kobaz · · Score: 1

      This is why I use my cell on speakerphone if i'm at home or otherwise not going to disturb anyone. And I use a *corded* ear piece to hear when I'm out and about.

      Generally I tell people to call my 'land line' voip phone at the office (or similar at my home).

      I probably physically handle my phone about an hour max per day... although when I'm out and about it's usually in my pocket. It would suck to get hip cancer. I play chess or do some e-learning when I'm on the pooper... maybe I'll get hand cancer.... sounds way better than brain cancer.

      --

      The goal of computer science is to build something that will last at least until we've finished building it.
    3. Re:4G is on all bands by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The article is full of guano to say that 4G is only on higher frequencies. 1G analog was on 800 MHz. 2G went on all bands, as did 3G and 4G. So 4G LTE is on 600 MHz up to 2.6 GHz. 5G goes on higher frequencies too. But the old 800 MHz licenses are still in use, not for analog or even 2G.

      And it's completely country-dependent, and will continue evolving in the future, as old frequencies get freed up for new usages... 700 and 800Mhz frequencies have been all the hype in France for a few years now, for 4G. "It penetrates buildings far easier, it's great!". And 900Mhz frequencies are still used for 2G.

    4. Re:4G is on all bands by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      700mhz is in use in Australia. Definitely seems weird to say newer technologies don't use the lower frequencies.

    5. Re:4G is on all bands by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1G analog was on 800 MHz. 2G went on all bands,

      1G was on 450 MHz or both 450 and 900 MHz, depending on the standard, which varied by country. 2G was 900 and 1800 MHz, except in North America, which also used a few non-standard frequency bands.

  11. Some of us know by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    So you radiated the rats way more ... why the fuck did you do it?

    Take it you've never visited DC or NYC.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Some of us know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have visited college campuses and the trend is to use the cheap headphones that come with the phone for the zombies to walk and talk, and still be able to see the screen. Those with a few more bucks to spend might get nicer wired headphones or a Blutooth set.

      It's rare to see anyone hold a phone up to their ear. I guess for the iGeneration their screen time is quite important to them.

      I have noticed with my new phone that it switches to WiFi quite often for phone service. I'm guessing that there's a lot of cell phone dead spots among the heavy stone, and often a century old, buildings in and around campus.

    2. Re: Some of us know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you have wifi enabled for phone calls it will PREFER wifi and use it whenever possible, you idiot.

  12. Two years is not very long... by Harvey+Manfrenjenson · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The rats in the study were only exposed to cell phone radiation for 2 years, and I'm assuming they were sacrificed at the end of the 2 years. (Rats only live 3-4 years anyway at best). How long does it take humans to develop cancer after exposure to a carcinogen? Quite a lot longer than that, in some cases. Sometimes it's decades.

    I realize that there were factors in this study which would tend to overestimate the risk (e.g., intensity of radiation and daily length of exposure), but the limited length of the study would seem to introduce an error in the other direction.

    1. Re:Two years is not very long... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      but the limited length of the study would seem to introduce an error in the other direction.

      As you said yourself there's differences between human and rats when it comes to cancer gestation. However rats are none the less a great model for a carcinogen's behaviour in humans, and incidentally the faster development of problems is precisely why they typically get used in studies in the first place.

    2. Re:Two years is not very long... by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      The general idea is that if you expose a rat to something for half its lifespan, that's like exposing a human to it for half their lifespan. The proportionality is tied up with all kinds of things like how the animal's cellular repair mechanisms work, how fast their cells divide, etc.

    3. Re:Two years is not very long... by Misagon · · Score: 1

      In the case of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were dosed with radioactivity from US atomic bombs in WWII, a statistically significant link between the bombs and increase in brain cancer appeared first forty years afterwards ...

      --
      "We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
  13. Re: Male 'rats? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gonna be fucking awesome when everyone votes straight republican because of your national socialist night of the long knives posts!

  14. Small rats, high levels = heating effects. by robbak · · Score: 2

    It is well known that if you subject tissues to elevated temperatures, you'll get chemical changes that could lead to cancer. And a rat doesn't have enough body area to get rid of heat as easily as a large human, meaning that tissues could easily be overheating.

    --
    Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
    1. Re:Small rats, high levels = heating effects. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is incorporated, but it doesn't explain why females would be immune to that.

    2. Re:Small rats, high levels = heating effects. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      And a rat doesn't have enough body area to get rid of heat as easily as a large human

      This is backwards. A rat has a higher surface to volume ratio.

    3. Re:Small rats, high levels = heating effects. by robbak · · Score: 2

      A rat is exposed to heating radio energy over it's whole body at these rates - a human gets that level to only a small amount of one side of their head. A whole lot of other stuff to sink that heat.

      --
      Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
    4. Re:Small rats, high levels = heating effects. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bill the assumer decides a rat's comparable inability to sweat or self-regulate temperature/blood components is less important than size. Bill is a moron, not a scientist who asks such questions. He assumes.

    5. Re:Small rats, high levels = heating effects. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought they used cell phones sized down for the rats? How are they going to use human size cell phones that the rats aren't going to be able to dial???

      The results of this test are worthless.

    6. Re:Small rats, high levels = heating effects. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bill is right, the larger the animal the harder it is for them to radiate heat. So, if a rat has issues, humans will have even more.

      But of course this whole thread will devolve in numerous directions all intended to deflect away from the obvious -- that microwave radiation from man-made sources is harmful.

  15. Important to remember that in statistical studies by Solandri · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The confidence interval is 98%, sometimes 95%. That is, just by random chance, 2% or 5% of the time, a study will turn up a correlation which doesn't really exist. The die rolls just happened to come up snake eyes that time. The chances increase the more correlations a study looks for. Like the massive Netherlands study a couple decades back which found a strong correlation between cell phone radiation and certain types of cancer. But it turned out they looked at thousands of possible correlations, so just by chance alone you'd have expected them to find a few hundred random correlations, with a few "strong" ones (strong by chance, not because it was real). Like if you throw a thousand darts at a dartboard, just by pure chance a few will hit the bullseye; not because you're good at throwing darts, but because of random chance.

    If (as the media tends to do) you then choose to publicize the studies finding a correlation while ignoring all the studies finding no correlation, then you're committing confirmation bias. Studies which find no positive result still generate valid data. And dismissing them in favor of studies with a positive result is a statistical and logical error. To properly assess what's going on, you need to compare the number of positive result studies with the number of negative result studies. And given the huge number of negative result studies, the greater likelihood here is that this is one of the studies which found a correlation due to a random blip, not something that's real.

    Obligatory XKCD comic.

  16. Crank it up, then by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

    Too many damn rats in this world anyway.

  17. Control Group by cirby · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's a note by one of the reviewers who points out that the control rats in the group that were compared to the "high radiation" male rats had a lower than expected number of gliomas, which is part of how they had "more gliomas" in that group.

    The number of male rats who had gliomas actually had a fairly typical number of gliomas for rats.

    There was also a bit of fudging up above: while 3000 or so rats were studied, they broke them into smaller numbers with different dose rates. There were only 94 rats in the group of "high exposure" rats.

    Basically, instead of a "3000 rat" study, it was a whole bunch of smaller studies. Treated as a 3000-rat whole, there was no effect, statistically.

    1. Re:Control Group by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Relevant XKCD: #882: Significant

    2. Re:Control Group by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The fact that it happens only in a weird group like 'male rats' and the effect size being small is a good clue that we're seeing a statistical anomaly. It's normal to randomly get results like this every so often and it has to be weighed against all negative findings (which, one might hope, would be getting pre-registered).

    3. Re:Control Group by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly - this entire study is a FRAUD, but then, so is all vivisection. They can do whatever they want, and make up any results they like - who is going to prove otherwise? The majority of LANDMARK cancer studies cannot be replicated...

      https://science.slashdot.org/story/12/04/06/139231/majority-of-landmark-cancer-studies-cannot-be-replicated

    4. Re:Control Group by omfglearntoplay · · Score: 1

      The females had heart cancer just like the males... like 5% of them or something. The pregnant and baby rats had low body weights. But then the exposed male rats lived longer... so something weird is going on there.

      "Did NTP find health effects other than cancer?
      NTP found lower body weights among newborn
      rats and their mothers, especially when exposed to
      high levels of RFR during pregnancy and lactation,
      yet these animals grew to normal size. "

      "In addition to seeing tumors in the male rats with
      higher exposures to RFR, NTP scientists also observed
      other changes in the hearts of exposed male and
      female rats that supported their conclusions.
      The evidence for tumors in the brain and adrenal
      glands was not as strong as what NTP scientists
      saw in the heart. However, the type of brain cancer
      observed is similar to a type of brain tumor linked to
      heavy cell phone use in some human studies. 3"

      "NTP found longer lifespans among the exposed
      male rats. This may be explained by an observed
      decrease in chronic kidney problems that are often
      the cause of death in older rats."

  18. No relevance to human exposure by TubeSteak · · Score: 2

    I remember digging into the preliminary draft that's mentioned in TFA. Here are the two highlights:

    NTP conducted the studies in phases, including several phases to determine the correct field strengths that would not raise the animal's body temperature.

    They were exposed for 10-minute on, 10-minute off increments, totaling a little more than nine hours [of radiation over an 18 hour period per day] from before birth through two years of age.

    First they had to figure out the "correct field strength" that wouldn't cook the rodents.

    Then they cycled that just-below-cooking field on and off over the course of 18 hours per day, for two years, over the entire body, beginning (for the rats) in the womb

    AFACT, there's nothing in the published materials that implies a relationship exists between the study and human health..

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  19. Wrong on all counts.... by Ozoner · · Score: 3, Informative

    Microwaves DON'T heat from the inside out:

    see Wickipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    "This idea arises from heating behavior seen if an absorbent layer of water lies beneath a less absorbent drier layer at the surface of a food; in this case, .... etc"

    The Microwave is NOT "tuned to be really well absorbed by oils and water for the purpose of cooking".

    again...

    " It is a common misconception that microwave ovens heat food by operating at a special resonance of water molecules in the food. As noted microwave ovens can operate at many frequencies"

    and

    "....the microwave oven's operating frequency has absolutely nothing to do with water or any other material resonant frequency whatsoever. Any coincidence is coincidental. The ISM (industrial-scientific-medical) band frequencies given out by the FCC were determined by regulatory/bureaucratic/interference considerations not by physics".

    1. Re:Wrong on all counts.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      " It is a common misconception that microwave ovens heat food by operating at a special resonance of water molecules in the food. As noted microwave ovens can operate at many frequencies"

      So true.

      I've been around some industrial ovens and they operate at 13 MHz or 27 MHz. The lower frequency is easier to produce at the power levels they emit, especially since many of them are quite old and are built around vacuum tubes.

    2. Re:Wrong on all counts.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is a prefect example as to why even WikiPedia says to not use it's site for research because it is edited by anyone with a internet connection without oversight.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Academic_use

      The commonly used frequency of microwaves, 2.45 gigahertz, is easily absorbed by water, fat, and sugar. "The waves are at the right frequency to penetrate deep into food and they deliver cooking power primarily to the food's water content. Water-free solids barely absorb microwaves." That's why microwave-safe containers don't get as hot as the food inside them. Microwaves heat food, like a cup of coffee or a slice of lasagna, by twisting water molecules back and forth. Water molecules are positively charged at one end and negatively charged at the other. A single water molecule looks like Mickey Mouse's head. You can think of the negatively charged oxygen atom as Mickey's face and the two smaller positively charged hydrogen atoms as Mickey's ears.
      The positively charged end of the water molecule tries to align itself with the microwave's electric field while the negatively charged end points the other way. But because the field reverses 2.5 billion times a second, Mickey's ears and face are being twisted back and forth rapidly.
      As the molecules twist back and forth, they rub into each other. This creates friction, which produces heat.

      --Louis Bloomfield, a professor of physics at the University of Virginia
      (A professor in physics in more knowledgeable in this matter than anyone here and WikiPedia put together)

    3. Re: Wrong on all counts.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh yeah? Well I'm Stephen Hawking and I say you're full of shit, Lou!

    4. Re: Wrong on all counts.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd bet it pisses off every ham operator for miles when you turn it on. (Yep.... so, nobody lol.)

    5. Re:Wrong on all counts.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nowhere in your entire quote does it say that 2.45 GHz is a special frequency for water, because it isn't. It is just the frequency the FCC picked for microwaves to use. Just because something is on the Wikipedia doesn't instantly make it false.

  20. Re:Doesn't take into account changing usage patter by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

    Most people use their smartphones for data/texting these days, rather than voice calls.

    Even when I am voicing, I put the phone on speaker and hold it about 30 cm in front of my face. I never put it up to my ear unless I need both hands on the steering wheel.

  21. Re: Male 'rats? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look everybody - another nazi ranting about genocide!

  22. Re:Important to remember that in statistical studi by cheekyboy · · Score: 2

    We have back generated a study from the 19th century - zero cases of cancer for cell phone use pre 1900s.

    Confirmation bias!

    --
    Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
  23. Re:Doesn't take into account changing usage patter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh god.
    You're *that* guy. Shouting into his phone AND letting everyone else in the room hear the other end of the conversation.

  24. The biggest experiment has already occurred by cliffjumper222 · · Score: 1

    Virtually everyone in the whole world uses mobile phones every day, young and old, rich, poor, etc. and they have done for decades. If phone radiation caused any significant health issues, we'd be able to see those pretty darn easily. Have we?

    1. Re:The biggest experiment has already occurred by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      not only that, the sun is the largest source of radio emissions in the solar system. We've been soaking in the radio waves since before we existed as humans.

    2. Re:The biggest experiment has already occurred by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We do, everyone dies of cancer those days...

  25. We don't know that, haven't proven it yet. Wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A few epidemiology studies have reported higher rates of tumors inside the skull among people who use cell phones heavily for 10 years or more. Of particular concern are benign Schwann cell tumors called acoustic neuromas, whiBut och affect nerve cells connecting the inner ear with structures inside the brain. These growths can in some instances progress to malignant cancer with time.

    Samet adds a major challenge now would be to draw a biologically relevant connection between acoustic neuromas and other glial tumors in the brains of humans with Schwann tumors in rat hearts. “The mechanism is uncertain,” he says. “There’s a lot of information we still need to fill in.”

    Since 2011 RF radiation has been classified as a Group 2B “possible” human carcinogen by the International Agency on Cancer (IARC), an agency of the World Health Organization. Based on the new animal findings, and limited epidemiological evidence linking heavy and prolonged cell phone use with brain gliomas in humans, Fiorella Belpoggi, director of research at the Ramazzini Institute and the study’s lead author, says IARC should consider changing the RF radiation designation to a “probable” human carcinogen. Even if the hazard is low, billions of people are exposed, she says, alluding to the estimated number of wireless subscriptions worldwide. Véronique Terrasse, an IARC spokesperson, says a reevaluation may occur after the NTP delivers its final report.

  26. You ever feel as if your mind had started to erode by No+Longer+an+AC · · Score: 1

    J. Frank Parnell : Ever been to Utah? Ra-di-a-tion. Yes, indeed. You hear the most outrageous lies about it. Half-baked goggle-box do-gooders telling everybody it's bad for you. Pernicious nonsense. Everybody could stand a hundred chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them, too. When they canceled the project it almost did me in. One day my mind was literally bursting. The next day - nothing. Swept away. But I showed them. I had a lobotomy in the end.

    Otto : Lobotomy? Isn't that for loonies?

    Parnell : Not at all. Friend of mine had one. Designer of the neutron bomb. You ever hear of the neutron bomb? Destroys people - leaves buildings standing. Fits in a suitcase. It's so small, no one knows it's there until - BLAMMO. Eyes melt, skin explodes, everybody dead. So immoral, working on the thing can drive you mad. That's what happened to this friend of mine. So he had a lobotomy. Now he's well again.

    J. Frank Parnell

  27. Let me guess by rkordmaa · · Score: 0

    They also tried cats, frogs, mice, pigeons both male and female and whatever other animals they could get their hands on and male rats were the only ones that gave p0.05. Cherry picking at it's finest. If radio causes cancer then it does so regardless of species or gender. Stop beating this dead horse of a subject, there is an experiment that has been ongoing for a century now, to date involving 7 billion human test subjects. If radio was causing cancer it would be bloody obvious to everyone by now. If you can't detect the effect in general population then you certainly won't find it in few thousand rats, regardless of the rats being male or female.

  28. Re: Male 'rats? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What is it with this site and political comments Trump especially. You are so predictable you might as well be bots.

  29. Re:We don't know that, haven't proven it yet. Wron by rkordmaa · · Score: 1

    It's "possible" carcinogen, because it hasn't been proven not to be a carcinogen, despite thousands of experiments and studies the conclusion remains "more studies needed". Of course, out of that many studies you will get statistical flukes where data shows correlation to increased or decreased instances of cancer, but that's just the nature of statistics, vast majority of studies show no significance one way or another. There is no rational reason to expect there to be an actual causal relationship and indeed, data shows none, so why do we keep looking in the first place? Why don't we spend the same effort into looking if say, electric fans cause cancer? They could you know, don't ask me how, but they could, it's equally possible as cellphones causing cancer.

  30. Re: NAZI FAGGOT KEN DOLL THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you're posting on slashdot at all you must be in your 30s and 40s. You need to have a think about your life posting shit like this, mate. It's not the 90s anymore.

  31. More fraudulent vivisection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yet more FRAUD from the 'vital research' that we keep hearing about from vivisectionists. How much did this load of bollocks cost? How many rats suffered? Oh wait - rats don't feel pain - in fact, only YOU feel pain, don't you, in your tiny little, selfish Slashdot sociopath world. What's that like? Not being able to feel the suffering of others.

  32. The doubters are still here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can see from the comments that many people still doubt the serious health issues that mobile phones can cause.

    History will remember you in the same way as it remembers those back in the 1940s/50s who used to sing the health-benefits of uranium...

    1. Re: The doubters are still here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OMG. It hurts so much reading your luddite idiocy that I'm afraid of getting cancer from your post.

  33. Mebw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WROK has been blasting you with hundreds of thousands of watts of RF radiation all your life to bring you the greatest rock and heavy metal hits!

    And you are worried about the little toy miliwatt radio in your SellFONE?

    You have a far, far, far higher chance of getting cancer taking a walk on a beautiful sunny day than what the little gadget you carry can ever do to you.

  34. Re: Male 'rats? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think you overestimate the reach of Slashdot somewhat

  35. Poor rats! by Evtim · · Score: 2

    This reminds me of the joke about the wild rabbit and the one born in captivity, sharing the same cage in the lab. The wild one convinces the "old dog" to escape with him (cause he knows the inns and outs in the lab), promising to show him the best three things in a wild rabbit's life.

    First, they go to a cabbage filed. "That's number one", says the wild one. They eat to bursting. Then, they go to a carrot field. "That's number two, see how great it is" intones the wild rabbit. They eat more. Three, they go to the rabbit holes. Bunnies! Lots of them! Sex all night!! "That's the best part, number three" says the wild one. "What do you think". " I don't know man", replies the lab rabbit, "It's all pretty good, but I am going back". "Why!!!". "Well, mate, I am just dying for a cigarette!".

  36. The trend is up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Have we?"

    Yes, there is a trend that corresponds to mobile phone use.
    https://www.ncri.ie/news/article/trends-brain-cancer-ireland-our-latest-report-published

    You cannot rule out the phone as the cause of brain cancers, because the trend shows a correlation.

    1. Re:The trend is up by canajin56 · · Score: 1

      That graph shows male and female, it's not brain cancer vs. cellphone usage...because the numbers are so small it looks like a gradual uptick, but it is not statistically significant. You have to read, not just look at the pictures.

      Incidence rates for primary brain cancers overall have remained more or less unchanged over the twenty year period 1994-2013. Of specific subtypes, only oligodendrogliomas showed any significant increase in incidence, but improvements in diagnosis could be a factor and the proportion of unspecified subtypes has fallen over time.

      In case that's too long "brain cancer rates unchanged, one type of brain cancer has increased but 'unknown type' has decreased".

      --
      ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI
  37. Re: Male 'rats? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah and when Reagan comes back to life and dinosaurs rule the Murica again, it's gonna be RADICAL DUDE, and those words won't be old anymore, and you'll be able to get your cock hard again, and Trump will be Pope.

    You fucking moron lol.

    Dinosaurs?

    Ever look at who's in charge of the Democrats these days? Either they're old white folks, or they're spouting prehistoric failed economic theories about FWEE STUFFZ straight from the 19th century.

    And they're likely both.

    You want stupid-like-a-dinosaur? I give you laughably self-styled anti-fascists who dress in black masks and go around threatening violence to anyone who disagrees with them.

    I give you CNN and "We have to stop demonizing people and realize the biggest terror threat in this country is white men," Don Lemon - DEMOCRATS all. Calling those shitstains dumb-as-a-dinosaur makes Bobby the Brontosaurus spin in his grave in anger.

    You want dinosaurs? I give you the Democrats.

    That's the thing about the stupid people who vote Democrat - they're too fucking stupid to know they're stupid.

  38. 5G by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wait for the NWO's next trick:

    Study of Cellphone Risks Finds 'Massive Evidence' of Link To Everything Bad, At Least In all Humans.
    Don't worry, you won;t be able to think at that point and be nothing more than a bio-NPC.

  39. This is complete bollocks by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

    It's worth nothing that the rats were exposed to radiation at a frequency of 900 megahertz, the frequency used in the second generation of cellphones that prevailed in the 90s, when the study was first conceived. For comparison, fourth generation (4G) and fifth generation (5G) phones employ much higher frequencies, which are "far less successful at penetrating the bodies of humans and rats," the NYT reports.

    Frequency has nothing to do with cellphone technology generation and those frequencies are still in widespread use today. In fact, T-Mobile, which had been limited to higher frequencies since it started as a 2G service, has just spent a small fortune buying licenses for 700MHz and 600MHz spectrum (because it penetrates walls more easily and travels further distances)

    The study sounds like it's not useful anyway, due to the higher rates of exposure, but this kind of nonsense doesn't belong to the summary.

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  40. Re: Male 'rats? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    These are the kinds of fantasies that Democrat "men" jerk off to.

  41. Re: GOP *are* Nazis by c6gunner · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Talk about the deaths of little 21 month old Mariee, how ICE stole her from her mother, she got sick in an ICE internment army camp, lost 1kg of weight, was not given medical attention before being released to die with her mother, the mother who lives in New Jersey.

    But Vice News says five pediatricians who reviewed details of Mariee's care say that after contracting the illness, she received treatment that was consistent with what they would have done. The story says all five doctors believed Mariee's "recommended course of treatment would have been the same had she not been in ICE custody."

    "It's reasonable care," said Dr. Ewen Wang, associate director of pediatric emergency medicine at Stanford University Medical Center. "It didn't sound like she was in the best of health, but not something you anticipate dying from."

    https://www.usnews.com/news/us...

    New Jersey.

    "Juarez told Vice News that she decided to have Mariee buried in their native Guatemala. Her asylum case is pending."

    Democrat propaganda in full swing.

  42. Re: You contribute nothing useful to society... ap by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    my work

    lol

  43. Finally the day has come! by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    Whew! So this will finally convince the people who think cellphones cause cancer that everything is OK, right? Right?

  44. 2.4 GHz not penetrating ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or not "as much";
    But then how do microwave ovens work at that same frequency ???

    MORE BS LIES to favor the big companies and industries and their filthy GREED.

  45. Re:Doesn't take into account changing usage patter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The ironic thing about this: usage patterns don't matter. EVERYONE is ALWAYS subject to high radiation from cell towers, they are somewhat directional, but in the "90 degrees of a circle" way, not like a LASER. What a cellphone itself puts out is absolutely trivial compared to the total (and constant) radiation you experience just walking around getting saturated with cell tower radiation.

  46. The Sun. My July 27, 2005 Slashdot comment. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    CORRECT: "the sun is the largest source of radio emissions..."

    An article about cell phone radiation I posted on Slashdot on July 27 2005.

  47. Re: GOP *are* Nazis by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    She wasn't treated in ICE care.

    Yes she was.

    Her fever wasn't investigated.

    Yes it was.

    Dr. Ewen Wang comments are simply her interpretting the report from ICE.

    Yes, Dr. Wang reviewed the record of the treatment which the child recieved (you know, the treatment which you keep pretending she didn't receive) while in ICE custody and came to the conclusion that it met the standard of reasonable care.

    When she was released her mother took her to hospital (because she obviously needed it), and she died.

    Yet you don't blame the mother for taking a sick child across the border, or the hospital for not saving her life after several weeks of treatment. No, it's ICE fault. Because orange man bad.

    Sure it's not YOUR child yet. You are an American, they could never do that to you.

    No I'm not.

    They're not snatching YOUR child yet, they might be taking your vote (e.g. refusing to accept student id as proof of being a student for voting purposes), and they may be taking away your Article 14th citizenship, but not your child.

    If you think that proof of being a student is the same as proof of citizenship, you're probably an idiot.

    And anyway, your child has legal rights, which the child is made to sign away with a crayon mark on a legal form.

    Scratch that; definitely an idiot.

    Fucking Nazi apologist.

    They killed her, it was illegal, they know it, they kicked her out with a cover story and she died. Not your child.... yet.

    It's cute that democrats try to pretend to be the honest and rational ones while constantly spitting out garbage like this. You make Trump look like a paragon of truth and virtue.

  48. Re: GOP *are* Nazis by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    Dr. Wang reviewed the ICE report ICE wrote saying ICE had treated her fairly. She had no other information.

    This makes it obvious that you're not just misinformed but rather a wilful liar. The report from Vice goes into detail covering exactly what kind of treatment she received, and even the mother has been open about the fact that her child was treated on multiple occasions while in ICE custody (her main complaint about the treatment seems to be that the waiting room was "over air conditioned". Quelle horreur).

    So you're just an asshole willfully making up bullshit to try and score political points. Anything else you have to say is entirely worthless.

  49. Cell and wifi radiation affects my sleep by reovirus1 · · Score: 2

    I sleep a lot deeper with the phone and wifi off. Live in the country side far from neighbours wifi. Wife notices it too. Haven't slept this well in about 17 years. Pretty amazing for my quality of life now that I've finally figured it out. I could also never understand why I slept so well at my parents cabin until I made this connection.

    1. Re:Cell and wifi radiation affects my sleep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I sleep a lot deeper with the phone and wifi off. Live in the country side far from neighbours wifi. Wife notices it too. Haven't slept this well in about 17 years. Pretty amazing for my quality of life now that I've finally figured it out. I could also never understand why I slept so well at my parents cabin until I made this connection.

      I'm sure you believe this, lots of people do, but I bet you'd fail a double blind study. Those people always do.

  50. Re:GOP *are* Nazis by datavirtue · · Score: 1

    Are you OK? This is a paid protest. Some complete asshole dredged these people up and paid them to walk all this way. At the very least stoked their hopes of going to America, a futile effort, for their own gain. A "progressive" did this. Took advantage of these people, exploited them, for a political show.

    --
    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  51. Californian rats by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They must have used Californian rats to force a random cancer signal out of the noise.

  52. Can't fix stupid! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here's what you suckers really support. No fear is need. You idiots are the FEAR, attacking defenseless elderly people for your hate filled ideology.
    https://youtu.be/tJCG_JckSF8

  53. higher frequency needs less power to damage! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All of us who study physics and biology know higher frequencies require less power to penetrate organic tissue. so the report is claiming 900mhz requires less power than 5ghz to damage tissue. wow. I guess part of thier research was financed by the wireless industry.

    I use my smartphone like a speakerphone. I never put it near my head. ever. I never put a tablet or laptop near my nut sack either.

  54. Re:Doesn't take into account changing usage patter by datavirtue · · Score: 1

    Putting a phone on your face is so undignified. We have excellent bluetooth devices and automobile integration.

    --
    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  55. Psyche more at risk than tissue. by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    I think we can all agree that with modern Smartphones, their power and connectivity, human psyche is way more at risk than the odd and off chance that someone gets brain cancer from cellphone radiation. I'm noticing cognitive faults in myself that I don't relate to age alone but to excess computer, web and smart device usage. And I'm sure it's way worse for people not just stuck with slashdot but hooked on FB, Twitter and Instagram.
    Whenever I'm about to upgrade my phone I always consider a downgrade. And this time around I have yet another reason to consider that: the observations mentioned above.

    Bottom line: cancer is the least of issues I'm worried about with modern portable smart devices.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  56. There is relevance to humans by omfglearntoplay · · Score: 1

    "the type of brain cancer
    observed is similar to a type of brain tumor linked to
    heavy cell phone use in some human studies."

    From the article: https://www.niehs.nih.gov/heal...

    However, the studies question the long-held
    assumption that radio frequency radiation is of
    no concern as long as the energy level is low and
    does not significantly heat the tissues.
    Did NTP find health effects other than cancer?
    NTP found lower body weights among newborn
    rats and their mothers, especially when exposed to
    high levels of RFR during pregnancy and lactation,
    yet these animals grew to normal size.

    What factors contributed to the NTP conclusions?
    In addition to seeing tumors in the male rats with
    higher exposures to RFR, NTP scientists also observed
    other changes in the hearts of exposed male and
    female rats that supported their conclusions.

    The evidence for tumors in the brain and adrenal
    glands was not as strong as what NTP scientists
    saw in the heart. However, the type of brain cancer
    observed is similar to a type of brain tumor linked to
    heavy cell phone use in some human studies.
    3

  57. Next thing on the list... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Next we have to study cell phone addiction in rats.

  58. Female rats. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Female rats could not drop the cell phone long enough for the study to conclude.

  59. Non-ionizing radiation can't possibly do that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ignorance on display... And a shocking number of such studies are shown to be wrong. Doing study and finding what everyone knows, (that we aren't all dropping form brain cancer from our cell phones), doesn't get you published. There is a long list of tricks to statistically hit the target they were aiming for. Naive, gullible, or just position bias because some people truly want this to be true - (possibly to justify their aluminum foil hats).

  60. Was the energy transmitted in digital packets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Was the energy transmitted in digital packets near the rats or were the cellphone radiation sources analog broadcast sources? If digital, what was the nature of the digital packet? It is conceivable that a digital non-stochastic regular pulse could cause more damage to organic systems which are used to bathing in stochastic (random) levels of radiation.

  61. More study needed by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

    It's worth nothing that the rats were exposed to radiation at a frequency of 900 megahertz, the frequency used in the second generation of cellphones that prevailed in the 90s, when the study was first conceived. For comparison, fourth generation (4G) and fifth generation (5G) phones employ much higher frequencies, which are "far less successful at penetrating the bodies of humans and rats," the NYT reports.

    Study originated before 2000. They spent 30 million dollars. Studied 900 MHz phones. Now we are using the 5 GHz bands. So they need 150 million dollars, (five times higher frequency, they need fives times more funding) and another 18 years to study the link between new phones and rat cancer.

    They might need another 30 million dollars to study if the rats were "holding the phone right", if they were using iPhones

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  62. The difference between science. by jellomizer · · Score: 1

    We seem fixated on the idea that everything new must be bad for us.
    So we have studies after studies showing that Cell phones usage isn't directly affecting our health. So they turned the study up to 11 to an unrealistic version of cell phone usage, and they see a slight change. Then we can all go yelling CELL PHONES ARE BAD FOR YOU!
    While you get more harmful affects from daily lives. Sunlight bad for you, lack of Sunlight bad for you. It almost seems like we as Animals have been surviving for billions of years and the ones who had traits that prevented the elements from killing them, survived.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:The difference between science. by EmagGeek · · Score: 1

      You've stumbled upon the "MythBusters" aspect of modern pseudoscience. If you don't get the result you are looking for, just do whatever it takes to get it, and then claim victory.

    2. Re:The difference between science. by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      True,
      However MythBusters normally will bust a myth, or call it plausible under extreme conditions.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  63. depends on the data plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and roaming charges

  64. The Rat by Zorro · · Score: 1

    Is there anything that won't give one cancer?

    1. Re:The Rat by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      Arsenic: both a known carcinogen, and a drug used to treat... cancer.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  65. Limit Your Exposure by BrendaEM · · Score: 1

    Unless you work for the cellphone industry, there is no harm in taking precautions. Even a bluetooth headset puts out far less power than your cellphone.
    At one time, people thought that Diethylstilbestrol, Thalidomide, and radium were safe.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
    1. Re:Limit Your Exposure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Subtle difference though. People thought those things were safe for a short while until somebody had a close looked and then saw they were dangerous pretty damn quick. People have studied EMR to death (ha, pun!) and mobiles just don't come up as dangerous, not in the ballpark. Living near a HV powerline is a different story. Your point though has a cautionary tale about regulators though, they don't always respond to science very quickly.

  66. Why only male rats? by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    Don't female rats spend a lot more time on the phone?

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  67. Re: Important to remember that in statistical stud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not much cancer in general way back then. People would just die from any number of other things in their 40s.

  68. That Rat Cellphone Study – I’m Still N by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In May I reported on the preliminary report of an extensive study of cancer incidence in mice and rats exposed to radio-frequencies. Yesterday the researchers released the final report, with essentially the same conclusions. This is prompting another round of the media reporting that a study links cell phone use to cancer – but the data does not show that, and what it does show is still not impressive.

    To summarize the results, and the points I made in my previous review of this study – there were actually two studies, one in mice and one in rats. The researchers exposed some of the animals to intermittent (10 minutes on, 10 minutes off) radio frequencies in varying strengths, whole body, from the womb until death. They found a statistically significant increase in some types of brain and heart tumor in male rats only exposed to the radio frequencies, but not in female rats, and not in male or female mice.

    Right there, this is a strange result. Why only male rats? If this effect does not even extend to female rats, or to mice, why should we suspect it extends to humans? Further, whenever study results are quirky like this, in my opinion that calls into question the relevance, and even the reality, of the claimed effect. It smacks of random noise.

    Another red flag is the large number of comparisons being made in the study. For example, the researchers looked for a particular type of tumor, schwannoma, in various tissues. They found a statistically significant increase in the heart, but not in other tissues, and not when you look at all schwannomas – only when you consider the heart separately. This looks suspicious for not controlling for multiple comparisons. You have to make a statistical adjustment for doing so, and I see no mention that they did.

    Further, the absolute numbers are fairly low, with affected rats all being in the single digits. This makes subtle confounding effects and also random quirky effects more likely.

    There was also some indication of possible confounding or random effects. For example, the treated male rats had a lower birth weight than the controls, but returned to normal weight as they aged. Also, the treated rats lived longer than the control rats. The authors speculate that the radio frequency exposure reduced the incidence of kidney disease that is a frequent cause of death in these rats.

    The authors concede that behavioral effects on the mothers may have resulted in the low perinatal weight, and of course that can have lasting health effects on the rats. This is a huge potential confounding factor.

    These kinds of studies are best considered as relating to hazard, not risk. Hazard is the potential for harm in the right setting, while risk relates to the probability of harm in the real world, or in specific settings. A good analogy is that a shark in an aquarium may represent a hazard, but visiting an aquarium does not present a significant risk of shark attack (unless you jump into the tank with the shark).

    So at most this study shows that radio frequency exposure (whole body, whole life, starting in utero) is a potential hazard. It does not indicate that cell phone use is a risk to humans, however, and there are many good reasons to suspect that it isn’t. Epidemiological data in humans has not show a clear correlation between cell phone use and cancer, and brain cancers have not been increasing since the rapid and almost ubiquitous use of cell phones.

    But still I am not even convinced this study shows a real hazard. The fact that the data was negative in female rats, in male and female mice, and for most tumor types is important. It limits the applicability of the results, and suggest they may just be random noise or due to some confounding factor.

    Unfortunately most people will not read beyond the misleading headlines. I will say, however, I don’t think the headline will have much of a negative effect. I don’t think people are ready to give up their cell phones because of a study in rats.

    https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/that-rat-cellphone-study-im-still-not-impressed/

  69. Re: GOP *are* Nazis by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If I were more conspiracy-minded I might accuse you of being a Republican troll trying to make democrats look like liars and idiots. Unfortunately I've seen enough Democrats behaving this way offline to know that you're probably for real.

  70. non-Stochastic effects by Ulfilas2000 · · Score: 1

    Was the energy transmitted in digital packets near the rats or were the cellphone radiation sources analog broadcast sources?

      If digital, what was the nature of the digital packet?

      It is conceivable that a digital non-stochastic regular pulse could cause more damage to organic systems which are used to bathing in stochastic (random) levels of radiation.

  71. Re: NAZI FAGGOT KEN DOLL THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    forget it Jake, it's (probably fake) APK

  72. Re:Doesn't take into account changing usage patter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just use the phone on speaker, you insensitive clod!

  73. Still wrong... by Ozoner · · Score: 2

    You have it exactly backwards:

    Yes, the commonly used frequency of microwaves (2.4 GHz) is easily absorbed by water, fat, and sugar.

    But the frequency is well removed from maximum absorption point. The frequency band was selected because the optimum frequency would prevent penetration beneath the surface of most foods.

    And FWIW, industrial microwave ovens use various other frequency bands for the same reason.

  74. Re:Doesn't take into account changing usage patter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Average human body emits about 800watts of radiation. Not sure a 100watt cell tower a mile away constitutes the adjective "saturated" in regards to radiation levels.

  75. Got it backwards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They're not to prove that cell phones are bad.
    They need to prove that cell phones are *not* bad before 5G is widespread.
    Otherwise, don't do it.
    The problem is using humans as their rats.

  76. hey! the idiots IMPERSONATED me again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hey! the idiots IMPERSONATED me again here (it wasn't ME writing this bs) so ignore the weak assholes https://mobile.slashdot.org/co...

    * They're PITIFUL...

    APK

    P.S=> ... & on their LAST LEGS as they can't attack my points on hosts files proving them wrong so they IMPERSONATE me harassing others (as they do me too)... apk