Government Study finds link between Cell Phones and Cancer in Rats

$25 million study from the National Institutes of Health looked at brain tumors in animals.

The National Toxicology Program (NTP), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has found a link between the type of radiation emitted by cell phones and cancer in rats. The project has been underway for more than a decade, and with $25 million price tag, is the most expensive ever undertaken by the program.

The Study involved more than 2,500 rodents, exposed to the same type of radiation found in cell phones, at the same frequencies for nine hours every day, for two years.

The findings -- that male rodents experienced low incidences of two types of tumors in humans and which led the International Agency for Research on Cancer to classify radiation as a possible human carcinogen back in 2011. The tumors found were gliomas (in the brain) and schwannomas (in the heart).

The results of the NTP study have the potential to move a debate that has been locked in stalemate for almost as long as cell phones have been around.

On one side of that debate are industry leaders and others who say that the evidence has long since shown that cell phones pose no risks to human health. On the other are scientists and some health officials who have argued that more research is needed but that the available evidence is enough to suggest a possible connection between cell phone use and brain cancer. They justify taking precautions when using cell phones.

In a statement by Consumer Reports, a spokesman for the NIH said, "This study in mice and rats is under review by additional experts. It is important to note that previous human, observational data collected in earlier large scale population-based studies have found limited evidence of an increased risk for developing cancer from cell phone use."

What's at Issue?

In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the type of radiation emitted from cell phones as a possible human carcinogen and in May of 2015, a group of 190 independent scientists from 39 countries called on the United Nations, World Health Organization and others to develop stricter controls on cell phone radiation.

But that move did not dissuade other groups from insisting that cell phones are completely safe. In the summer of 2014, a behind the scenes debate led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to debate cautionary advice from its cell phone fact sheet.

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