Cell Phones and cancer

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/cancer/articles/2011/05/31/cell-phones-may-cause-brain-cancer-who-experts-say

Huh. And I had thought they didn't cause cancer.

Meh, again? I'm confused but I don't really believe it. Too many times the opinions were switched back and forth for me to take it seriously

Found the study.

This kinda hinges on cellphone radiation being dangerous. Considering that its such a tiny scource I doubt it matters.

More people will likely die from distracted driving while using a cell phone than the radiation.

blueharp: Yeah, I'm of the same mindset - driving while texting or having the thing glued to your ear is far more hazardous.

edited 31st May '11 11:49:31 AM by pvtnum11

Is this article even worth reading or is it just more You Can Panic Now?

edited 31st May '11 12:23:39 PM by Deboss

Huh, some research by Finnish researchers lately said opposite o-o Though, they noted that it might be wrong since cell phones are relatively new thing.

Ignoring. The radiation from a cellphone, as illustrated on an xkcd comic, if I recall, is utterly inconsequential. More concerned with Cellphones exploding gasoline, and that's bullcrap as well.

My dad had a cell phone and died of Glioblastoma related complications. Ipso facto, cell phones cause cancer, quid pro quo.

Of course, he also worked with industrial CRT monitors in his 30s...

edited 31st May '11 2:38:28 PM by TheyCallMeTomu

To begin with, the question was far less “can cell phones cause widespread outbreaks of cancer.” If that were the case, we’ve been using them for decades now, and brain cancer rates would be skyrocketing.

The question has always been whether or not certain people who might have a genetic predisposition to very specific kinds of brain tumors might be placed at a higher risk factor by putting something like a cell phone near their head all the time.

And this study’s results are basically like shaking up a magic eightball and getting an “Ask again later”.

It's not that radiation from a cellphone is inconsequential, it's that it's non-ionizing. It's like trying to break a steel car door by slowly rolling marbles into it. Doesn't matter how long you do it, you're not going to cause plastic damage.

Tumors and cellphones might be linked by any number of external factors common to tumors and people who use cellphones too much, but the relationship wouldn't be causal.

edited 31st May '11 3:09:24 PM by Pykrete

It would, however, mean that if you happen to use cell phones a lot, you as a person are generally at a higher risk of getting brain cancer for some reason or another.

Oh, so you own a cell phone? ...wait, was that the sound of your insurance premium going up?

Assuming a free market (HA), it would only mean premiums are going up relative to the premiums of everyone who doesn't have a cell phone.

Well, I will treat this new way of acquiring cancer with the same indifferent mindset of "fuck it."

Besides, as some of the studies have found varying results, I think it's more a case of someone who is already predisposed to cancer might have that accelerated by cell phone radiation.

It's entirely plausible that something might not cause cancer, but might prevent apoptosis. After all, nicotine itself doesn't cause cancer, but can be prohibitive towards causing cancer cell death.

Cellular phones cannot give you cancer, only hepatitis.

edited 31st May '11 4:58:45 PM by petrie911

If cellphones don't give you cancer, and researches keep the P=.95 standard for studies on them, 1 in 20 well-conducted studies should show that cellphones give you cancer.

Presumably this is the one. Or else poorly conducted.

Besides, it is not like Cellphones radiate twice as much as the background radiation in Cambridge.
Going by the official statistics in my country: The background radiation here is roughly on the same level as by cellphones... so yeah.