Q: Can cell phones cause cancer?
A: No matter how many studies give cell phones a clean bill of health, many people have a sneaking suspicion that, one day, mobile phones will be declared a dangerous carcinogen.
A study, published in Neurology, found no link between the risk of developing a brain tumor and the amount of time one has spent using a mobile phone. The researchers studied more than 400 subjects with brain tumors and some 800 without, but found no cause for concern.
The reason is simple, scientists say: Energy waves emitted by your phone aren't strong enough to damage your DNA. Such mutations are what cause cells to become cancerous. In terms of power, a cell phone's wavelengths are somewhere between those of an FM radio and a microwave, according to Michael Thun, a researcher with the American Cancer Society and an author of the study.
The bottom line: Mobile-phone signals pose far less of a risk than that other mobile-phone hazard: the person who drives with one hand and talks with the other.
