Do cellphones cause cancer?

Do cellphones cause cancer? The largest and most expensive study to date has determined there is “some evidence,” a notch higher on the confidence continuum from “equivocal evidence.”

Looking at 3,000 rodents, spending $30 million, and extending two decades, the National Toxicology Program found positive evidence that radio waves from some types of cellphones could raise the risk that male rates would develop cancer.

As alarming as it may sound, the exposure levels were far greater than what people typically encounter.

Nonetheless, the implications give pause to some experts. A preliminary draft of the study in May, 2016 noted the radiation had “likely caused” the brain tumors. Some months later, in February, 2018, the draft report moved away from the firm conclusion.

This study should give pause, but not because our cell phones will instigate a cancerous growth in our bodies.

Do they have to cause cancer to prompt a realization that our cellphones are distracting us in both a literal sense and a figurative one.

We are not focusing on the person in front of us when we keep glancing at our phones. We are not immersed in our outing or our work project when we’re checking text and email messages.

Do the cellphones we’re carrying now and using to the extent that we’re using them cause cancer? It seems unlikely. But cancer isn’t the only ill to avoid.