Electricity has magnetic fields associated with it, and it is felt that this connection is the cause behind the link with brain tumors of various sorts. Certainly, there are connections in work field, such as electrical linemen, who work around ‘high tension’ wires. This connection is clear-cut and I’ve witnessed it myself in patients with both brain tumors and testicular cancer (both associated with this exposure).
Cell phones have been suggested to also cause brain tumors via low level electromagnetic field changes and the recent WHO (World Health Organization) summary comments on the issue have brought the topic back into public view.
The data for this connection remains tenuous and mild, with many different studies on the topic showing varying degrees of risk. It is my belief that there is a very small risk involved with cell phones, just as there is probably a small risk of lymphoma from bottled water and the associated organic compounds leaching out of the bottles. That said, these risks pale in comparison with other risks we take every day….like driving our cars.
So…to be ‘safer’….reducing cell phone usage, using an earpiece, text messaging, and using a speaker-phone are reasonable methods to reduce your exposures, but to think that this exposure constitutes a ‘massive and unacceptable’ risk is to overestimate the issue at hand.