So for the threat to be real, RF energy would have to cause cancer via some exotic mechanism, or the laws of physics are wrong at some fundamental level. Cell phones and other wireless devices emit radiation that lacks the energy to alter DNA. That is the known mechanism by which radiation increases cancer risk. Only the gamma ray, X-ray and UV photons carry enough energy to damage DNA and cause mutations. Electromagnetic radiation can be thought of as waves or as photons of different energies – the shorter-wavelength end of the spectrum carrying more energy per photon. The type of radiation emitted by wireless devices is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes infrared radiation, visible light, UV and x-rays. It’s by the same reasoning that most scientists dismiss homeopathic medicine – at least the genuine kind that’s so dilute there’s nothing in it. It’s that there’s no plausible way for it to happen without rewriting the laws of physics and biology. It’s not just that we don’t know exactly how RF waves would cause cancer. For one thing, there’s no plausible mechanism by which cell phones or Wi-Fi devices could cause cancer, said Leonard Finegold, a physics professor at Drexel University.
Absence of evidence for harm is not evidence of safety.īut with RF radiation, there’s already evidence that it’s an extremely unlikely carcinogen. Still, why not play it safe and limit RF exposure until we know more? That’s the precautionary principle, which has logic to it and is behind the legal obligation to test new drugs or food additives for safety before they are unleashed on the public. If your child is exposed to lead, cancer is not your biggest worry. Instead, substances such as lead are mentioned, though its big drawback is that it’s poisonous and can cause brain damage. What the story doesn’t say is that same category includes pickled vegetables (some epidemiological studies link them to stomach cancer), Styrofoam cups, and coffee. The Forbes version of the story made much of the fact that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IRIC), part of the World Health Organization (WHO), classified RF radiation as a “class 2B”, or possible carcinogens. Some scientists were unaware that anyone would ever carry a cell phone in a bra. There was only one part of the new paper that surprised scientists familiar with the issue: An alleged connection between breast cancer and carrying a cell phone in your bra. If one of his students turned this in as a research paper, he said, he would fail it.
One problem, he said, was that the authors cherry picked the few studies that showed a possible effect and ignored a number of others that failed to find any connection between cell phones, Wi-Fi and cancer. “This is not what I would call an academic paper,” said Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society.
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