# Cellphone radiation dangers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 26, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-radiation-dangers/616826 "2012-03-26T08:16:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-radiation-dangers/616826/1 "2012-03-26T08:16:52Z")
Hello you wonderful folks. I’m hoping to get some informed opinons on the topic of the ‘dangers of cellphone radiation’. I’d had my cursory glances through various headlines over the years and had come down on the side of ‘don’t worry about it’. A dinner conversation with a USC research scientist seemed to off the rails, where she ‘respectfully disagreed’ with my overall dismissive of her statement “the Jury is still out, but it’s best to limit exposure”. She said in her conversations with [John Samet](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/cellphone-radiation-may-cause-cancer-advisory-panel-says/) she has significant concerns about the impact. Anyone have more info or suggested readings on this? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-radiation-dangers/616826/2 "2012-03-26T09:01:45Z")
A more recent study shows that based on the risk levels from the WHO previous study we should observe more cancer incidents than what we actually see. [http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2012/03/as-cell-phone-use-has-risen-in-the-u-s-has-brain-cancer-also-increased/](http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2012/03/as-cell-phone-use-has-risen-in-the-u-s-has-brain-cancer-also-increased/) > **[Mobile phone use and glioma risk: comparison of epidemiological study results...](https://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e1147)** > > Objective In view of mobile phone exposure being classified as a possible human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), we determined the compatibility of two recent reports of glioma risk (forming the basis of the... So what’s the conclusion? > [@](#): > > The authors write: > > > [@](#): > > > > ``` > > Raised risks of glioma with mobile phone use, as reported by one (Swedish) study forming the basis of the IARC’s re-evaluation of mobile phone exposure, are not consistent with observed incidence trends in US population data, although the US data could be consistent with the modest excess risks in the Interphone study. > > > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-radiation-dangers/616826/3 "2012-03-26T13:40:58Z")
While it’s a good idea to be safe with an uncertain risk, you have to be reasonable about it. There’s no plausible mechanism for cell phone radiation to cause cancer. The radiation is non-ionizing, meaning it doesn’t have enough energy to break chemical bonds, and you don’t get enough energy in heat to worry about. Whatever risk there is from cell phones, the risk from hair dryers would be about a thousand times higher. After we ban hair dryers, we can then talk about limiting cell phone use. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-radiation-dangers/616826/4 "2012-03-27T16:29:30Z")
I’m guessing the really heavy users who would eventually die of cancer, die instead by crashing their cars. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-radiation-dangers/616826/5 "2012-03-27T16:34:10Z")
Cell (mobile) phones have had enormous popularity for over 10 years now, and still no evidence of increased cancer rates. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-radiation-dangers/616826/6 "2012-03-27T16:46:15Z")
Another reason to text instead of talk.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-radiation-dangers/616826/7 "2012-03-27T20:08:19Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > While it’s a good idea to be safe with an uncertain risk, you have to be reasonable about it. There’s no plausible mechanism for cell phone radiation to cause cancer. The radiation is non-ionizing, meaning it doesn’t have enough energy to break chemical bonds, and you don’t get enough energy in heat to worry about. > > Whatever risk there is from cell phones, the risk from hair dryers would be about a thousand times higher. After we ban hair dryers, we can then talk about limiting cell phone use. Not hair dryers. Light bulbs, of any kind - visible light is just electromagnetic radiation after all, the same as microwaves but higher in energy. And you can even [cook with it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0_nuvPKIi8&feature=player_embedded). In any event, it is only once you get to ultraviolet that the energy gets high enough to break chemical bonds and cause direct radiation damage, as opposed to indirect damage from heating, which just depends on the overall power level (this better be right or I am in trouble, given how much high powered electric fields I expose myself to on a daily basis, due to my hobby in electronics; this is mostly lower frequency but some claim that even 60 Hz power lines cause cancer…). ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cellphone-radiation-dangers/616826/8 "2012-03-27T21:07:20Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Another reason to text instead of talk.😃 Or use Bluetooth. Just don’t put the phone in your pants pocket. 😃