The back and forth brawl between studies suggesting that cell phones do and don't cause cancer just took a bold step toward the former camp today, with the World Health Organisation classifying cellphones as potential links to brain cancer.
The study, conducted by the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer, stops far short of saying phones cause cancer. Rather, the agency's grouped regular cellphone usage (defined as 30 minutes of talk-time per day) as a "possible" cause of glioma, a malignant form of brain cancer—up to a 40% increased chance, according to one cited study. As one researcher puts it, "There could be some risk, and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cell phones and cancer risk." This might sound insignificant—the study says chance, as opposed to causation, can't be ruled out—but it's unprecedented. The WHO is a global authority on medicine, and its findings mark the most comprehensive statement on cellular radiation danger. By classifying cellphone usage as a possible, or "Class 2B" carcinogen, your iPhone or Android's now on the same list as DDT, burning coal, herpes, and working in a print factory (among hundreds of other carcinogens).
Damn, Gina …
[Source: Gizmodo]