# My cousin is worried my cell phone will give me cancer . . . in the “rectem.” **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 20, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-is-worried-my-cell-phone-will-give-me-cancer-in-the-rectem/582618 "2011-05-20T20:56:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-is-worried-my-cell-phone-will-give-me-cancer-in-the-rectem/582618/21 "2011-05-22T19:59:40Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Cell phones cause cancer is a harmless ignorant position to hold. Vaccines aren’t safe is worth mocking and open ridicule, because it’s a destructive position to hold. Dr. Sanja Gupta did a half hour on TV yesterday saying the connection between glinoma (brain cancer) and cell phones is getting stronger. Now that cell phones have been around for a few years, they have accumulated enough data to feel there is a connection. He suggested ear phones. [http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/28/45/](http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/28/45/) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-is-worried-my-cell-phone-will-give-me-cancer-in-the-rectem/582618/22 "2011-05-22T22:07:47Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Dr. Sanja Gupta did a half hour on TV yesterday saying the connection between glinoma (brain cancer) and cell phones is getting stronger. Now that cell phones have been around for a few years, they have accumulated enough data to feel there is a connection. He suggested ear phones. > [http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/28/45/](http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/28/45/) I have always used an earpiece with my cell phones since I got my first tracphone in 1994. I hate trying to multitask with a phone in my hand so I also tried to make sure that [when we had a land line] all my phones could use earpieces. Though I use wired ones not bluetooth. I hate bluetooth. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-is-worried-my-cell-phone-will-give-me-cancer-in-the-rectem/582618/23 "2011-05-22T22:33:30Z")
I’ve begun a list of folks I’m going to give wired headsets to for Xmas. Just in case it works. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-is-worried-my-cell-phone-will-give-me-cancer-in-the-rectem/582618/24 "2011-05-23T13:47:20Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Also, did your cousin spell it like that or was it spelled that way in the comment section. Yep, that’s how he spelled it. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > Also, according to the article “the latency period or time between exposure and recognition of a tumor is around 20 years, sometimes longer” so ask your cousin to contact the person who made the comment and find out if their spouse has been using a cell phone for that long. I love how some people use this to explain why some tests show no connection and then later say, “Joe started using a cell phone a bunch and then just two years later got brain cancer!” Is that a fallacy with a fancy Latin name or is that just being inconsistent? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-is-worried-my-cell-phone-will-give-me-cancer-in-the-rectem/582618/25 "2011-05-23T13:55:36Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > I love how some people use this to explain why some tests show no connection and then later say, “Joe started using a cell phone a bunch and then just two years later got brain cancer!” Is that a fallacy with a fancy Latin name or is that just being inconsistent? I’d just say “correlation does not equal causation,” but I’m sure there’s a Latin logic term as well. Edit: And I just remembered it - “post hoc ergo propter hoc.” ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-is-worried-my-cell-phone-will-give-me-cancer-in-the-rectem/582618/26 "2011-05-23T13:59:07Z")
Carpe moron? /me does not speak Latin ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-is-worried-my-cell-phone-will-give-me-cancer-in-the-rectem/582618/28 "2011-05-23T14:28:50Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > Carpe moron? > /me does not speak Latin Idiot fish? /me also does not speak Latin 😉 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-is-worried-my-cell-phone-will-give-me-cancer-in-the-rectem/582618/29 "2011-05-23T14:32:22Z")
Beware of morons, or Morons will seize you. Not sure which. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-is-worried-my-cell-phone-will-give-me-cancer-in-the-rectem/582618/30 "2011-05-23T14:34:21Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I’d go to find out exactly where this cousin keeps his cell phone when not in use. :dubious: Maybe he needs a different service provider; one where he can take less bars…? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-is-worried-my-cell-phone-will-give-me-cancer-in-the-rectem/582618/31 "2011-05-23T14:40:48Z")
Seize the moron. I think. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-is-worried-my-cell-phone-will-give-me-cancer-in-the-rectem/582618/32 "2011-06-01T01:32:32Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Cell phones cause cancer is a harmless ignorant position to hold. Vaccines aren’t safe is worth mocking and open ridicule, because it’s a destructive position to hold. For what it’s worth, it’s not totally ignorant: [Cellphone Radiation May Cause Cancer, Advisory Panel Says - The New York Times](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/cellphone-radiation-may-cause-cancer-advisory-panel-says/?ref=health) [QUOTE=The Article Above] A World Health Organization panel has concluded that cellphones are “possibly carcinogenic,’’ putting the popular devices in the same category as certain dry cleaning chemicals and pesticides, as a potential threat to human health. [/QUOTE] I’m not here to argue either way (I’m skeptical that it causes cancer, and few people get the kind of cancer in the article anyway, and if it really was high risk, every driver in the suburbs would have cancer by now), but there you go. It might be prudent to use a wired headset, or, if necessary, a wireless one (the amount of radiation from a wireless headset must be tiny compared to a cellphone). If you wear a wireless one, it’s important that it looks like the one Uruhu had, of course. RS [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cousin-is-worried-my-cell-phone-will-give-me-cancer-in-the-rectem/582618.md?page=1)