The Washington Post reports this morning that
A respected international panel of scientists says cellphones are possible cancer-causing agents, putting them in the same category as the pesticide DDT, gasoline engine exhaust and coffee. The classification was issued Tuesday in Lyon, France, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer [IARC] after a review of dozens of published studies. The agency is an arm of the World Health Organization and its assessment now goes to WHO and national health agencies for possible guidance on cellphone use. Classifying agents as “possibly carcinogenic” doesn’t mean they automatically cause cancer and some experts said the ruling shouldn’t change people’s cellphone habits. “Anything is a possible carcinogen,” said Donald Berry, a professor of biostatistics at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas.
One problem is that cell phone use is so widespread, it's hard to test the cell-phones-cause-cancer theory: "Because cellphones are so popular, it may be impossible for experts to compare cellphone users who develop brain tumors with people who don’t use the devices. According to a survey last year, the number of cellphone subscribers worldwide has hit 5 billion, or nearly three-quarters of the global population."
Read the whole story here and the IARC's lengthy press release here.
Note that, last year, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission changed its guidance on cell phones by dropping a long-standing recommendation that concerned consumers purchase phones with lower levels of radiation emissions.
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