A new study has shown that though radiation emitted by cell phones present less risk for humans high radiation levels is capable of causing cancers in the heart of laboratory animals.
According to National Toxicology Program senior scientist, Dr. John Boucher, their 10-year, $25 million study looked at the adverse effects of these radiations on mice and rats in the laboratories.
Dr. Boucher says that the research shows that male rats have an amplified risk of schwannoma or cancerous tumours in the heart after being exposed to high levels of the radiation. Schwannomas are a rare type of nerve cell tumours.
However, he added, “The typical cell phone call has Radio Frequency Radiation Emission that are very much lower than what we studied.” This means that usual cell phone use is not related to these cancers.
He explained that this type of radiation is the same as when a person is making a call during poor connection. During poor connections, the cell phones emit higher radiation to connect to the signal towers. When the rodents were exposed to these high radiations for over nine hours per day continuously for two years, they are seen to develop the tumours.
A range of 1.5 to 6 watts per kilogram (W/kg) in rats and 2.5 to 10 W/kg in mice of exposure was made in 10 minutes off and 10 minutes on periods for a total of nine hours a day. Thus it is highly unlikely that human beings would be exposed to such high radiation exposure situations, he said.
What the study shows is that there exist a biological link between these tumours and the radiation exposure.
This study reveals that although cell phone radiations are a risk to health, the risk is not as immense as perceived. There was also no connection between high doses of exposures and brain tumours as has been earlier speculated.
Dr Boucher added that after these results, he is not altering his or his family’s usage of cell phones.
Some experts however still believe that this is a rodent study and it is not clear how much of it can be extrapolated to humans and their real-life cell phone usage.
FDA radiation health chief Dr Jeffrey Shuren said in a statement, “The current safety limits for cell phones are acceptable for protecting the public health.”
Much has been explained and studied regarding the adverse effects of cell phone radiation on human health, more so, it is safe to use cell phones at current levels.
