ABSTRACT

Almost everyone uses a cell phone, and almost no one thinks it is dangerous. Cell phones are nothing more than two-way radios that use electromagnetic radiation in the radiofrequency range to transmit and receive signals. Mobile phones are designed to operate at power levels well below the threshold known to produce thermal effects. The major health effect of concern with cell phones is brain cancer. If cell phone use is a brain cancer risk factor, one might expect an increase in cancer incidence after the year 2000 as a consequence of the dramatic increase in cell phone use in the 1990s. The cell phone controversy initially focused on placement of unattractive phone towers, but that may have been a smoke screen for the real concerns about possible health effects particularly in children. The recommendation of the UK government to limit cell phone use by children raises important questions about how the precautionary principle is being applied as a risk-management tool.