Is Cellular Phone Radiation Really Harmful?
physical-health
Most people are walking around with smartphones and wireless technology in their pockets, which emit some degree of radiation. In fact, almost 100% of Americans own a cell phone. You may even be reading this article on your smartphone.
Cell phones have become part of our daily life — but you may wonder what effect the cellular radiation your cell phone emits has on your health.
The main concern with cellular radiation is the potential to cause cancer — a disease where cells in the body grow out of control due to changes in the genes that control how a cell grows and functions. However, current research hasn’t found a clear link between cell phone use and cancer risk. In this article, you’ll learn more about what cellular radiation is and what science says about its health effects.
What Is Cellular Radiation?
It’s easy to take the small computers (smartphones) in our pockets for granted and not think about how they work. Cell phones send and receive information using signals called radiofrequency (RF) radiation. RF radiation is a combination of electric and magnetic fields that move together as waves, which is why it is also referred to as RF waves.
RF radiation is a type of non-ionizing radiation that includes radio waves and microwaves. Non-ionizing radiation is a type of radiation that doesn’t have enough energy to remove tightly bound electrons from an atom. If you absorb large amounts of RF radiation, it can cause heat that leads to tissue damage from burns. Cell phones don’t give off enough RF radiation to heat your body tissues. RF radiation isn’t thought to damage your DNA — the material that makes up your genes. Other types of RF radiation include infrared light and visible light.
RF radiation is different from ionizing radiation, which includes X-rays, gamma rays, and some ultraviolet (UV) rays. Unlike non-ionizing radiation, this type of radiation does have enough energy to remove an electron from an atom. This can cause DNA damage that has the potential to cause cancer.
Types of Cellular Radiation
You may have heard about different types of cell phone networks — 2G, 3G, 4G, and the newest, 5G. These networks differ in the frequencies they use to transmit data.
2G, 3G, and 4G networks use RF radiation at a frequency in the range of 0.7 to 2.7 gigahertz (GHz). 5G networks are the newest network and use a frequency of up to 80 GHz. All of these cellular networks fall within the non-ionizing range. 2G and 3G networks are primarily used for texting and voice calls. 4G and 5G networks use higher frequencies to transmit more data.
Most of the research on the effects of cellular radiation on humans and animals has been done with 2G and 3G networks. We will likely see more research about the effects of 4G and 5G networks in the coming years. However, this type of cellular network is newer, so the research hasn’t been completed yet. So far, the research on 5G networks hasn’t found that this type of non-ionizing radiation is any more or less concerning than 2G or 3G networks.
How Are You Exposed to RF Radiation?
RF radiation is all around you and comes from both natural and human-made sources. Natural sources of RF radiation include:
- Outer space
- The sun
- The earth
- Lightning strikes
In addition to cell phones, other human-made sources of RF radiation include:
- Television signals
- Radio signals
- Two-way radios
- Cell phone towers
- Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth devices
- Security scanners
Several factors can affect the amount of RF radiation your cell phone emits, including:
- How much time you spend on the phone — the more time you’re on the phone, the more RF radiation you’re exposed to
- How close you are to your cell phone — the closer to your body your phone is, the more RF radiation you’re exposed to
- How far away you are from a cell phone tower — the farther away you are, the more RF radiation your phone needs
- How much cell phone traffic is in the area — higher traffic requires more energy
- The type of phone you have — different phones emit different levels of RF radiation
How Is RF Radiation Measured?
Exposure to RF radiation is measured by the specific absorption rate (SAR) — the rate of RF energy absorption per unit of body mass. The SAR goes down the farther away you are from the source.
In the United States (US), You can find information about the SAR of cell phones sold in the past 1 to 2 years on the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) website. If your phone is more than 2 years old, you may be able to find the SAR by contacting the manufacturer or by checking your phone’s settings.
What Are Possible Short-Term Effects of Cellular Radiation?
The possible short-term effects of exposure to cellular radiation are thought to be due to tissue heating. If your body absorbs large amounts of RF radiation, it may cause small increases in the temperature of your body tissues. Several studies have looked into whether RF radiation affects the human body, including:
- Heart function
- Blood pressure
- Sleep
- Learning and memory
So far, research hasn’t been able to link exposure to RF radiation to any self-reported symptoms.
What Are the Possible Long-Term Effects of Cellular Radiation?
The primary concern about cellular radiation is the possibility of causing cancer. Cancer is considered a long-term effect because it can take many years for cancer to develop after exposure to a carcinogen — a substance capable of causing cancer. As cell phones are a relatively new invention, it’s not possible to understand all the ways RF radiation may affect the human body.
Since we usually use cell phones close to our heads, the main concern is that cell phones may cause tumors in this area. Researchers look for different types of tumors, including:
- Gliomas — a type of malignant (cancerous) brain tumor
- Meningiomas — a type of non-cancerous brain tumor
- Acoustic neuromas — a type of non-cancerous tumor of the nerve that connects your brain and ear (also called vestibular schwannomas)
- Salivary gland tumors
It’s not clear how cellular radiation could cause cancer since cell phones don’t give off enough RF radiation to heat body tissues. Additionally, RF radiation is non-ionizing and doesn’t damage DNA.
Several animal and human studies have already been conducted, and more are ongoing.
What Do Animal Studies on RF Radiation Show?
A 2018 study by the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) studied the effect of RF radiation from 2G and 3G networks on rats and mice. In this study, researchers exposed rats and mice to high levels of RF radiation over their whole bodies for several hours each day. The RF radiation exposure started before the animals were born and continued for most or all of their lives.
This study found an increased risk of a rare heart tumor called malignant schwannomas in male rats but not in female rats. The study also found a possible increased risk of brain tumors and adrenal gland tumors in male rats.
The results of this study don’t rule out the possibility that RF radiation may have a negative effect on humans. However, several limitations make it difficult to say how these results may apply to humans. This study used RF radiation from 2G and 3G networks. Newer 4G and 5G networks use different technology. Additionally, the RF radiation was applied at high levels for long periods of time.
What Do Studies in People Show?
Most of the studies on RF radiation in people have focused on brain cancer. Some studies have found a potential link between cell phone use and the development of brain tumors, while other studies haven’t.
It’s important to note that the number of new brain and central nervous system cancers has not increased since cell phone use has become popular.
In the real world, it’s impossible to measure how much RF radiation a person is exposed to. To estimate how much RF radiation people are exposed to, researchers ask people questions, such as:
- How much time do you spend using your cell phone?
- How many calls per week or month do you take?
- How long do you spend talking on the phone?
- How old were you when you first started using a cell phone?
Four large studies have looked for a link between cell phone use and cancer.
The Interphone Study
The Interphone study involved researchers from 13 different countries. Researchers looked at the cell phone use habits of more than 5,000 people with brain cancer and a similar group of people without brain cancer. In this study, researchers did not find a link between the risk of developing brain cancer and how often you took calls, how long you spent on the phone, or using a cell phone for more than 10 years.
The study results suggested that there may be an increased risk of developing a glioma or meningioma in the top 10% of people who used their cell phones the most. However, it’s difficult to interpret this because some people reported an impossibly high level of cell phone use.
The Danish Cohort Study
This study compared about 400,000 people in Denmark with a cell phone subscription to people without a cell phone subscription between the years 1982 and 1995. Researchers found that cell phone use was not linked to an increase in cancer.
The Million Women Study
The million women study included almost 800,000 women in the United Kingdom (UK). Researchers looked at self-reported cell phone use over 14 years to examine their risk of developing brain tumors. The study did not find a link between cell phone use and the risk of developing brain tumors.
The Cohort Study of Mobile Phones and Health (COSMOS)
This study involved more than 200,000 people from five European countries. Researchers found that the amount of time spent on a cell phone call was not associated with developing brain cancer. Additionally, there wasn’t an association with increased risk of developing cancer, even in people who used their cell phones the most or in people who have used a cell phone for more than 15 years.
What Do the Experts Say?
Some organizations have commented on the ability of cell phone radiation to cause cancer.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified RF radiation as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” However, this classification is based on limited evidence.
A 2020 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to support a causal association between RF radiation and the formation of tumors.
Several other organizations have stated there isn’t enough evidence to link cell phone use to cancer risk, including the American Cancer Society (ACS), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the European Commission Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks.
Yet, some prominent researchers are concerned about the effects of cell phone radiation.
How Can You Lower Cellular Radiation Exposure?
There’s no way to completely avoid RF radiation — the earth and sky produce it. If you want to lower your exposure to RF radiation, here are some steps you can take:
In general, reducing the amount of time you spend using your cell phone will reduce your exposure. Use the speakerphone function more often to keep your cell phone away from your head. You can also get a hands-free headset or other device that connects to your phone. Even though wireless Bluetooth devices also use RF radiation to transmit the signal, they do so with power levels up to 400 times lower than cell phones.
Texting, instead of calling, can also help keep more distance between you and your phone. It may also help to avoid making calls when you have a weak signal. When there’s a weak signal, your phone emits more RF radiation to help boost the signal. When you’re not using your cell phone, you can turn on airplane mode to reduce RF radiation signals.
You can also limit the amount of time you spend near other devices that emit RF radiation, such as Wi-Fi routers and televisions.
Although you can take steps to limit your exposure to cellular radiation, the research isn’t clear as to whether these actions will have any effect on your health.
The Bottom Line
There isn’t clear evidence that cell phones are linked to any long-term health risks, such as cancer. The biggest risk that cell phones pose to your health is car accidents as a result of distracted driving. However, cell phones haven’t been around for very long, so it’s not possible to understand all the ways cellular radiation can affect the human body.
Research groups, such as the NTP and the others, will continue to study the health effects of cellular radiation.
It’s reasonable to try to limit your exposure to RF radiation by limiting the amount of time you spend in direct contact with your cell phone or other RF-emitting devices.
