Cell Phones and Cancer Revisited
You may recall that I recently wrote a piece about the inflated fears surrounding cell phones and cancer. As I said at the time, the best studies were inconclusive at best, so it was far too early to panic over a risk that has never been confirmed.
Recently an update was released to one of the major studies that was widely cited in the first round of hysteria. The result: encouraging. As the article summary concluded:
In this update of a large nationwide cohort study of mobile phone use, there were no increased risks of tumors of the central nervous system, providing little evidence for a causal association.
The Danish cohort study is one of the best and most respected of its kind, tracking millions of users over a period of decades, and attempting to control for many differences in age, gender, and status. When a study like this cannot find any strong causal link, it suggests that no one may ever be able to prove such a link conclusively. That doesn’t definitely mean there is no link, but it may be so statistically tiny that it cannot be teased out of the existing data.
What does this mean for the rest of us? Relax. Cell phones can be a source of any number of hazards (driving, for one), but for now it seems safe to conclude that most casual use will not lead to any statistically significant bump in cancer risk.
Tags: cancer, cell phones, los angeles ent
