No link between mobile phones and brain cancer, WHO review confirms

There is no link between mobile phone use and increased brain cancer risk, according to a new World Health Organization-commissioned review of the available published evidence worldwide.

Despite the huge rise in the use of wireless technology, there has not been a corresponding rise in the incidence of brain cancers, the review, published on Tuesday, found. That applies even to people who make long phone calls or those who have used mobile phones for more than a decade.

The final analysis included 63 studies from 1994-2022, assessed by 11 investigators from 10 countries, including the Australian government’s radiation protection authority.

The work assessed the effects of radiofrequency, used in mobile phones as well as TV, baby monitors and radar, co-author Mark Elwood, professor of cancer epidemiology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, said.

“None of the major questions studied showed increased risks,” he said. The review looked at cancers of the brain in adults and children, as well as cancer of the pituitary gland, salivary glands and leukaemia, and risks linked to mobile phone use, base stations, or transmitters, as well as occupational exposure. Other cancer types will be reported separately.