Cell Phone Health Risks: An Introduction
At this point, there is no data to support that cell phones cause
brain cancer. However, the greatest cell phone health risks are due to the increased risk of car accidents. Cell phones can also have increased health risks for people with pacemakers.
Cell Phone Health Risks: Pacemaker Problems
One pacemaker research study involving 980 people with pacemakers reported that a cell phone held over the pacemaker or held against the chest interfered with a substantial proportion of pacemakers. However, holding the cell phone against the ear caused little interference.
Cell Phone Health Risks: Car Accidents
To date, the most significant health effect for cell phone use is an increased risk of car accidents. A 1997 article in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that the risk of a collision was about four times greater when the driver was using either a hands-free telephone or holding the phone to the ear with one hand. There is also evidence from a 1999 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that the heaviest cell phone users have more than twice the mortality rates from car accidents than the lightest cell phone users.
Cell Phone Health Risks: Brain Cancer
At this point,
brain cancer research scientists do not believe that cell phones cause brain cancer. This theory is based on a study completed by the National Cancer Institute that did not show an increase in brain cancer cases for those who used cell phones versus those who did not use cell phones.
(Click Cell Phones and Brain Cancer for more information about this study and other brain cancer research studies currently in progress focused on whether cell phones cause brain tumors.)
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