World Health Organization: Mobile phones are ‘possibly carcinogenic to humans’

The World Health Organization’s cancer agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, has discovered that radiation emitted by mobile phones is possibly carcinogenic to humans, though a definitive conclusion could not be reached based on current evidence.

An international panel consisting of 31 experts from 14 countries convened in Lyon, France to review details from dozens of epidemiological studies and attempt to determine which of the following scientific labels should be used for mobiles: carcinogenic, probably carcinogenic, possibly carcinogenic, not classifiable, or not carcinogenic.

The IARC’s verdict placed cellphones in the same risk category as agents such as chloroform, DDT, lead, and petrol exhausts, The Telegraph acknowledges.

“The risk of brain cancer is similar in people who use mobile phones compared to those who don’t, and rates of this cancer have not gone up in recent years, despite a dramatic rise in phone use during the 1980s,” Ed Yong, the head of health information at Cancer Research U.K., told the BBC.

“However, not enough is known to totally rule out a risk, and there has been very little research on the long-term effects of using phones.”

Christopher Wild, the director of the IARC, echoed Yong’s sentiments by stressing the importance of additional research.

“Pending the availability of such information, it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as hands-free devices or texting,” he said.