This conclusion was reached after the latest review of global data, commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO). Despite the significant increase in the use of wireless communication technologies, there has not been a proportional increase in brain cancer cases, the WHO document says.
This applies both to people who talk on the phone for a long time and to those who have been using mobile devices for more than ten years. The analysis included 63 studies conducted from 1994 to 2022. The data was assessed by 11 researchers from 10 countries, including the Australian Radiation Protection Agency.
The work assesses the effects of radio frequencies used in mobile phones, televisions, baby monitors and radars on the human body. No increased risks were found in any of the cases. Brain cancer in adults and children, pituitary gland cancer, salivary gland cancer, leukemia, as well as the risks associated with the use of mobile phones, base stations, transmitters and exposure to radio frequencies during occupational activities are examined. Studies on other types of cancer will be presented separately.
The WHO and other international health agencies have also previously said there is no evidence of adverse health effects from radiation emitted by mobile phones, but have called for more research. The International Agency for Research on Cancer currently classifies phone radiation as “possibly carcinogenic” in Class 2B, a category assigned when a possible relationship cannot be excluded.
The WHO last published an assessment of the evidence linking mobile phones to brain cancer in 2011, and now the agency's advisory group is calling for a review of the classification based on the new data. The WHO will officially publish its findings in the first quarter of 2025.