Study: Cell phones don’t cause cancer

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BRIAN WATT: A new study from U.S. and Danish researchers debunks the rumored link between cell phone use and cancer. From North Carolina Public Radio, Janet Babin reports.

JANET BABIN: Even though cell phones emit radiation, the new research found it’s apparently not the type that causes cancer.

The study was big and long-term, and that adds to its credibility, according to Dr. Matthew Ewend at the University of North Carolina. His only qualm is that it excluded those who already had cancer:

MATTHEW EWEND: They might have left out the people who were most likely to get cancers from the cell phone because they’d already gotten another kind of cancer.

Dr. John Boice at Vanderbilt University worked on the research. He says the study’s results are almost, but not quite definitive:

JOHN BOICE: The population has only been followed for an average of perhaps 15 years so there’s additional years of follow up that are required.

Especially he says, now that children routinely use cell phones.

I’m Janet Babin for Marketplace.