By Sharon Atieno

Despite increased uptake and exposure to the use of mobile phones and other wireless technology which emit radiofrequencies (RF), there is no link to the rise in brain cancers.

This is according to a World Health Organization (WHO) commissioned review which covered 5,000 studies assessing whether RF increases the risk of cancers in people. 63 of them were published between 1994 and 2022.

“Radiofrequencies (RF) refers to electromagnetic energy in the wavelengths of 300 Hz to 300 GHz, that is, a lower frequency and lower energy than visible light. RF is used for mobile phones, radio and TV. It is also used in baby monitors, wi-fi connections, radar, and many industrial and medical uses,” explained Prof. Mark Elwood, honorary Professor of Cancer Epidemiology, University of Auckland.

The four-year study, led by experts from the Australian Government’s primary radiation protection authority, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), focused on cancers of the central nervous system (brain, meninges, pituitary gland, acoustic nerve) and salivary gland tumours, brain tumours and leukaemias.

According to Prof. Elwood, also the review’s co-author, even with over ten years of exposure and the maximum categories of call time or number of calls, there was no increased risk found between mobile phone use and brain cancers.

“For mobile phones and brain cancers, there were studies with 10 or more years’ use, and quite extensive use. Most phone use in these studies was from past years and 1G -2G networks; the newer 3G-4G networks have substantially lower RF emissions. There were several studies that reported some increased risks, but these were outweighed in considering all the available evidence,” he said.

“There are no major studies yet of 5G networks, but there are studies of radar, which has similar high frequencies; these do not show an increased risk.”

The review also found that fixed-site transmitters (broadcasting antennas or base stations) were not associated with childhood leukaemia or paediatric brain tumour risks.

“Some questions cannot be answered as there are not sufficient studies available: for rare types of cancer or unusual types of exposure. Small increases in risk cannot be assessed,” Prof. Elwood noted.

“The final assessments are that there are no increased risks, with ‘moderate confidence’. In the scheme we used, this is the most definite category for observational studies. The only higher category, ‘high confidence’ is only used for questions where randomised experimental studies (clinical trials) have been done.”

The ARPANSA’s Prof Ken Karipidis, who led this review, observed that it is the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the evidence to date.

“When the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified radio wave exposure as a possible carcinogen to humans in 2011 it was largely based on limited evidence from human observational studies,” Prof Karipidis said.

“This systematic review of human observational studies is based on a much larger dataset compared to that examined by the IARC, that also includes more recent and more comprehensive studies, so we can be more confident in the conclusion that exposure to radio waves from wireless technology is not a human health hazard.”

The experts are monitoring new studies published since the main cut-off, December 2022. There have been several, including the first report on cancer from the COSMOS international cohort study, with over 250,000 participants. The studies have been consistent with their conclusions.