Ah yes, mobile phones. Our number one non-substance addiction, as soon as they were invented we were hooked, though the earlier models would hardly be counted as mobile, as they were bulky and huge. After that, the race to build compact cellphones initiated, and we were blessed to have an entire decade of miniature phones. Remember the time when phones were fun? They used to come in all shapes and sizes, from flip ones to sliding ones to the previous decade’s champ, the ones with a qwerty keyboard. Yet it all changed with the arrival of the iPhone, since then we are basically left with rectangular slabs of glass which more or less are the same but the technology has evolved tremendously. Due to the frequencies and other factors, some claim these cause cancer, or do they?
How Cancer occurs?
Before we see if it causes cancer or not, it is important to understand what is cancer and how it is caused. Our body being such a complex mechanism works in such a manner that honestly cannot be fully comprehended by the human brain, yet we function perfectly. As you may be familiar our bodies are full of cells and these cells are hard-working organisms that constantly work in order to dismantle, metabolize to gain energy, create perfect copies of themselves. These perform their tasks in a complicated manner as some of these processes are not fully understood yet and cells being present in billions of numbers these processes are uncountable. Now if you happen to work in a large organization, you already know that errors are bound to happen and in our body where cells are in billions, they happen often.
Illustration of a cancer cell.
These errors occur often and in order to protect ourselves cells are equipped with self-destruct mechanisms and they kill themselves if something goes wrong, it is when these cell suicides are halted or they manage to survive the self-destruct, cancer cells are born. They are like the zombie cells of our bodies. But again our immune system knows about it and quickly terminates them. But factors like diet, other diseases, and UV radiation leads to the growth of these cancer cells which our immune systems are unable to kill. So, does the technology of our cellphones promote the growth of these dangerous cells?
Cellphones and Cancer
The reason why people are concerned about phones causing cancer is that they emit radiation. The thing is that everything around emits radiation from the radio in your car to the sunlight from the Sun, but there is a second type of radiation known as Ionizing radiation in which electrons are removed from the atom, example this is the X-Ray. Thankfully, the radiation emitted by the mobile networks is non-ionizing, but it is a form of radiation nonetheless that doesn’t occur naturally and it is only human to be concerned about its effects.
- Rats and Radiation: Due to the rising concerns it was essential that studies must be done in order to uncover the truth. There was a study conducted in 2016 with mice to see if phone radiations actually cause any harm to the body. Though some of the rats developed cancer through the phone radiation others didn’t. This study as you can tell produced inconsistent results. Additionally, it was seen that the rats who received these frequencies happened to live longer than those who were not exposed to them. But rats aren’t humans and our body responds differently to these radiations. Additionally, no evidence has been found that would state that mobile phones are cancerous to us.
Representation of Rat exposed to mobile phone frequency.
- New Technology: Another concerning thought that the general public has is that the latest 5G network and even the 4G are dangerous to us. The reason this idea is being thought of is that these networks work on a different frequency and have a higher wavelength compared to the previous generation of networks which can cause damage to us. For that reason, some people are even uprooting the 5G towers. Scientists still say these are non-ionizing radiation and have don’t have enough energy to be considered harmful, let alone causing cancer. But it should also be noted that both 4G and 5G are relatively new technology and their widespread use is still under process so it would be hard to precisely claim if these are cancerous or not.
The usage of 5G by various fields.
- The Bottom Line: Scientists have conducted various studies in order to find the link between cell phones and cancer. Each study had a slight change in a variable to see if it produces any difference and participants were asked to use their devices normally then their usage was monitored, and their health was checked upon regularly. In some studies, change in glucose and metabolism was noticed but the author of the study says it cannot be linked with mobile phones as there are many other factors that contribute to these results. Despite conducting so many researches, scientists have found no data that points towards the tumor-causing properties within the body while using these devices. Only rats were the ones who developed cancer cells upon being exposed to these frequencies. After looking at all the available data from these studies, researchers state that the level of radiation emitted is far too weak and is at an acceptable level. Ultimately, mobile phones do not cause cancer, so relax and call your loved ones.
Dial pad of a mobile phone.
It is safe to say that mobile phones are not responsible for cancer, there are other factors such as smoking and some foods that actually cause cancer. The only fatal result of using these devices is the distraction while driving as most accidents occur due to texting and driving but we are to blame for it, not our mobile devices.
