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The link between brain cancer and cell phones has not been proven
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
If you're wary of mobile phones, you may be reassured by the results of a study conducted by Danish scientists. Don't worry - your phone is probably safe, they say.
The largest study to date into the possible link between mobile phone use and cancer has found no correlation. Danish experts have concluded that the billions of people who rarely let go of their phones more than a few centimeters have little cause for concern about their health.
Researchers looked at data from 350,000 people and found there was no difference in cancer rates between those who had used mobile phones for more than a decade and those who had not.
In 2010, another large study found no clear link between mobile phone use and cancer. However, it did point to a possible link between frequent phone use and glioma, a rare but deadly form of brain cancer. About 14,000 people in several countries were examined, but the number of overactive mobile phone users was not enough to draw a definitive conclusion. Nevertheless, this study and animal experiments prompted the International Agency for Research on Cancer to classify electromagnetic waves from mobile phones as “possibly carcinogenic,” adding them to a list of potential carcinogens, along with coffee and car exhaust.
However, this does not mean that phones necessarily pose a health risk. They do not emit radiation used in some medical tests or found in other sources, such as radon in the soil.
Two U.S. government agencies, the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communications Commission, have found no evidence linking cell phones to cancer.
However, concerns remain despite the fact that the proportion of cancer patients has not increased since the introduction of mobile phones into widespread use.