FDA Concludes that Cell Phones Don’t Cause Cancer in Children

In a public service announcement this week, FDA stated that there is no evidence that cell phone use causes cancer in children and teens. This was based on a recent study in about 2800 children and teens in 14 countries: 900 kids with brain tumor and 1900 healthy kids. Cell phones emit radio frequency (RF) energy which has been argued by some to cause brain tumor. But multiple epidemiological studies, public health surveillance data, and clinical studies have shown no relation between the RF energy emitted by cell phones and the incidence of cancer. The public announcement this week reiterates FDA’s long standing position on the safety of cell phone use. Despite mounting evidence on the safety of cell phone use, a few publications based on animal studies have constantly fueled conspiracy theories about the theoretical link between RF energy and cancer. The so-called link has been thoroughly debunked by the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, and other scientists. But that fact that FDA keeps making new public announcements about this topic shows the need for constant hammering of the message to fight misinformation.