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Study of Cellphone Risks Finds 'Some Evidence' of Link to Cancer, at Least in Male Rats
For decades, health experts have struggled to determine whether or not cellphones can cause cancer. On Thursday, a federal agency released the final results of what experts call the world's largest and most costly experiment to look into the question. The study originated in the Clinton administration, cost $30 million and involved some 3,000 rodents.
The experiment, by the National Toxicology Program, found positive but relatively modest evidence that radio waves from some types of cellphones could raise the risk that male rats develop brain cancer. "We believe that the link between radio-frequency radiation and tumors in male rats is real," John Bucher, a senior scientist at the National Toxicology Program, said in a statement.
But he cautioned that the exposure levels and durations were far greater than what people typically encounter, and thus cannot "be compared directly to the exposure that humans experience." Moreover, the rat study examined the effects of a radio frequency associated with an early generation of cellphone technology, one that fell out of routine use years ago. Any concerns arising from the study thus would seem to apply mainly to early adopters who used those bygone devices, not to users of current models.
[...] The rats were exposed to radiation at a frequency of 900 megahertz — typical of the second generation of cellphones that prevailed in the 1990s, when the study was first conceived. Current cellphones represent a fourth generation, known as 4G, and 5G phones are expected to debut around 2020. They employ much higher frequencies, and these radio waves are far less successful at penetrating the bodies of humans and rats, scientists say.
Previously: Major Cell Phone Radiation Study Reignites Cancer Questions
First Clear Evidence Cell Phone Radiation Can Cause Cancer In Rats
Related: Dim-Bulb Politician Wants Warning on Cell Phones
California Issues Warning Over Cellphones; Study Links Non-Ionizing Radiation to Miscarriage
Mill Valley, California Blocks 5G Over Health Concerns
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Sunday November 04 2018, @01:17PM
The conclusion is absolutely appropriate. Under their methodology, the rats were exposed to continuous high levels of whole-body radiation for years [nih.gov] during the study.
Now, while it's technically true that humans have a period of tens of years to potentially be exposed to radiation due to their increased lifespan, even considering this and extrapolating linearly, the rats still got much higher exposure.
The rats were exposed to 1.5, 3, or 6 watts of continuous full body exposure, while cell phones' average emissions are localized and are in the milliwatt range.
The math doesn't work to claim that milliwatts of intermittent, localized radiation over tens of years is comparable to 6 watts continuously for years.
"1.5, 3, or 6 continuous whole-body watts for years" works out to be much higher levels of radiation than humans get from cellular telephones.
Now, we can conclude that if unusually high levels of radiation increase cancer risk significantly, that it's possible that much lower levels might increase it insignificantly. But it's not linear from 0 to infinity; according to the Paracelsus Principle there is a threshold below which a risk can't be identified, and this study didn't find that threshold, but rather measured things that were above it.
Can much lower levels of 900MHz radiation cause cancer? No one knows conclusively, but it looks improbable, and it's not relevant to cell phones now, because they largely no longer use those frequencies.