Study: Cell Phone Towers Don’t Raise Cancer Risk

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A recent study by British researchers at Imperial College London's School of Public Health has found that, despite widespread concern over the safety of cell phones, children born to mothers who lived near cell phone towers while pregnant do not have an elevated risk of cancer.

A recent study by British researchers at Imperial College London's School of Public Health has found that, despite widespread concern over the safety of cell phones, children born to mothers who lived near cell phone towers while pregnant do not have an elevated risk of cancer.

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The team examined nearly 2,000 cases of childhood cancer in Britain between 1999 and 2001, and found that there was no correlation between how close their mother lived to cell phone towers and incidence of cancer.

Various cancers were examined, including cancers of the brain and central nervous system, leukemia, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The researchers concluded, "There is no association between risk of early childhood cancers and estimates of the mother's exposure to mobile phone base stations during pregnancy." The study was published in the British Medical Journal.

Despite the alarm and media scares, repeated studies have found no link between cell phone use and disease. In fact, as physicist S.T. Lakshmikumar noted in Skeptical Inquirer magazine, the power in a standard cell phone would not be enough to cause problems: "The small amount of power being transmitted by the phone is traveling several kilometers to the tower. Also, the cell phone has to transmit this very little power in all directions. The small power in the direction of the tower passes through several walls and other obstructions, even people, without impeding the communication."

Thus, cell phone signals are everywhere—and probably passing through you as you read this. If the signals were carcinogenic, nearly everyone would have cancer.

Article continues: http://news.discovery.com/tech/study-cell-phone-towers-dont-raise-cancer-risk.html