A Seatbelt for Your Brain: Keeping Cell Phone Risk at Bay

A video is making the rounds on Facebook again: the story of a twenty-one-year-old woman diagnosed with breast cancer in the exact spot where she stored her phone in her bra. It’s the kind of concern we get alarmed about when we read an article, but it doesn’t change our behavior (most of us) until someone we personally know is impacted.

But the question of what’s flying around the air and getting into our bodies deserves a few moments of attention before we have to spend our time worrying in a doctor’s office, because there are simple ways to mitigate risk. And isn’t that worth it? Do we wear a seat belt because we’re convinced a car is absolutely going to hit us? No, we wear one because the risk exists.

Research can be found to support both sides of the cell phone-cancer debate. To understand the argument, it’s important to know that the waves given off by cell phones are non-ionizing radio waves. These are the same low-frequency radio waves emitted by things such as power lines, microwaves and televisions. These waves are not considered to have the energy necessary to directly damage cells.

But exposure levels and times matter. With enough exposure, radio frequency waves do heat tissue and can cause burns. And don’t forget that lifestyle makes a difference, since a healthy body is better able to cope with invading or damaging factors.

A researcher in Tel Aviv tested the saliva of twenty people who used cell phones heavily (more than thirty hours per month of talking) and those who rarely used it or used it solely for texting. The heavy cell users were found to have higher levels of oxidative stress in their system, which indicates cell damage. Antioxidants help fight oxidative stress but when levels rise beyond the ability of antioxidants, cell damage and DNA damage can occur. In 2011 the World Health Organization gathered a group of scientists to review the current data on cell phone radiation; their conclusion was the devices are “possibly carcinogenic to humans” but “limited evidence” exists. In essence, we’re the first generation of lab rats.

Opponents of the cell phone/cancer link are quick to list the number of other thing we use that have stronger evidence to support a cancer link: Styrofoam, gasoline fumes, even apple juice can be said to contain carcinogens. Moreover, a doctor from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston points out that there has been no increase in brain tumors concurrent with the increase in mobile phone use.

Oncologist Peter Shields, with Georgetown University Medical Center, points out that there are three categories of cancer causing agents: possible, probably and known. Cellphone use falls under “possible,” or lowest risk. Shields notes that “possible does not mean the same thing as ‘it will cause cancer.’”

Some legislators want even the possibility for carcinogens in cellular radiation to be labeled similar to cigarettes.  It’s an argument more than ten years old, when cell phones started to become common, and it’s previously been shot down in Maine, Oregon and San Francisco. But this week, Hawaii Senator Josh Green (D) is reviving the discussion with a new bill. Some phones already voluntarily contain radiation hazard labels; Senator Green even said he took the suggested language for the label off his iPhone. While his bill doesn’t cite specific scientific research; the Senator wants consumers in his state “made aware of the potential health dangers that have been linked to the electromagnetic radiation emitted by cellular telephones.”

This isn’t an argument that’s going to be solved anytime soon, and frankly, it all comes down to personal responsibility and choice. If you know you talk on your cell phone a lot, get a headset to keep the phone off your ear; especially if you have a history of cancer in your family. God willing, we’ll all live long healthy lives, but if the risk is there, and it’s so easy to mitigate, what’s the harm in a little preventative caution?