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Mobile phones, cordless phones and the risk for brain tumours.

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Hardell L, Carlberg M. · 2009

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Using mobile phones before age 20 increases brain cancer risk by over 400%, with highest risks occurring on the same side of the head as phone use.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Swedish researchers analyzed brain tumor patients and found that people who used mobile phones or cordless phones on the same side of their head where tumors developed had significantly higher cancer risks. The risk was especially pronounced for those who started using wireless phones before age 20, with mobile phone users showing a 5.2-fold increased risk for astrocytoma (a type of brain cancer). The study also found that brain cancer rates in Sweden increased by over 2% annually during the 2000s, coinciding with widespread wireless phone adoption.

Why This Matters

This study represents some of the strongest evidence linking wireless phone radiation to brain cancer risk, particularly because it demonstrates a clear dose-response relationship and anatomical correlation. The Hardell research group has consistently found elevated brain tumor risks associated with wireless phone use, and this analysis strengthens those findings by showing the highest risks occur when phones are used on the same side of the head where tumors develop. What makes these findings particularly concerning is the dramatically elevated risk for those who began using wireless phones as teenagers or young adults, with risks increasing up to 520% for certain brain cancers. The concurrent rise in brain cancer rates in Sweden during the period of widespread mobile phone adoption adds population-level support to these individual risk findings, suggesting we may be witnessing the early stages of a wireless radiation-induced cancer epidemic.

Exposure Information

Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.

Study Details

In the current analysis we defined ipsilateral use (same side as the tumour) as >or=50% of the use and contralateral use (opposite side) as <50% of the calling time.

We report now further results for use of mobile and cordless phones. Regarding astrocytoma we found ...

Cite This Study
Hardell L, Carlberg M. (2009). Mobile phones, cordless phones and the risk for brain tumours. Int J Oncol. 35(1):5-17, 2009.
Show BibTeX
@article{l_2009_mobile_phones_cordless_phones_2157,
  author = {Hardell L and Carlberg M.},
  title = {Mobile phones, cordless phones and the risk for brain tumours.},
  year = {2009},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19513546/},
}
PubMed: 19513546

Cited By (202 papers)

View all 202 citing papers on Semantic Scholar

Quick Questions About This Study

Swedish research found cordless phone users had a 5.0-fold increased risk for astrocytoma brain tumors after 10+ years of use on the same head side, compared to mobile phones' 3.3-fold increase. Both phone types showed significant cancer risks with long-term same-side use.
Yes, people who started using mobile phones before age 20 showed dramatically higher brain cancer risks. The Swedish study found a 5.2-fold increased risk for astrocytoma and 5.0-fold increased risk for acoustic neuroma in early mobile phone users.
Brain cancer rates in Sweden increased by over 2% annually during 2000-2007, coinciding with widespread mobile phone adoption. Specifically, astrocytoma incidence rose 2.16% per year despite apparent underreporting to the Swedish Cancer Registry during this period.
Brain tumor risk was highest when people used mobile or cordless phones on the same side of their head where tumors later developed (ipsilateral use). This pattern strongly suggests a direct relationship between phone radiation exposure and tumor location.
The highest brain cancer risks appeared after more than 10 years of mobile phone use. Swedish researchers found 3.3-fold increased astrocytoma risk and 3.0-fold increased acoustic neuroma risk in users with over a decade of same-side phone exposure.