Has the incidence of brain cancer risen in Australia since the introduction of mobile phones 29 years ago?
Chapman S, Azizi L, Luo Q, Sitas F. · 2016
View Original AbstractDespite 94% mobile phone adoption in Australia, brain cancer rates remained stable over 30 years, contradicting predictions of a phone-related cancer epidemic.
Plain English Summary
Australian researchers analyzed 30 years of brain cancer data (1982-2012) to see if cancer rates increased after mobile phones were introduced in 1987. Despite mobile phone usage reaching 94% of the population by 2014, brain cancer rates remained stable in most age groups and were actually lower than what researchers expected if phones truly caused cancer. The only increase was in people over 70, but this trend began in 1982, before mobile phones existed.
Why This Matters
This large-scale population study provides important context for understanding mobile phone cancer risks. The researchers found that if mobile phones truly caused brain cancer at the rates suggested by some studies, Australia should have seen 1,867 cases in 2012 but only observed 1,434 cases. What this means for you is that the dramatic increase in mobile phone use over three decades has not produced the cancer epidemic that would be expected if phones posed significant cancer risk. The reality is that this type of population-level data offers a powerful reality check against laboratory studies that may overestimate real-world risks. However, this doesn't mean EMF exposure is without concern - it simply suggests that if mobile phones cause brain cancer, the effect is likely smaller than some studies suggest.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Study Details
We explored the popularly hypothesised association between brain cancer incidence and mobile phone use.
Using national cancer registration data, we examined age and gender specific incidence rates of 19,8...
Age adjusted brain cancer incidence rates (20-84 years, per 100,000) have risen slightly in males (p...
The observed stability of brain cancer incidence in Australia between 1982 and 2012 in all age groups except in those over 70 years compared to increasing modelled expected estimates, suggests that the observed increases in brain cancer incidence in the older age group are unlikely to be related to mobile phone use. Rather, we hypothesize that the observed increases in brain cancer incidence in Australia are related to the advent of improved diagnostic procedures when computed tomography and related imaging technologies were introduced in the early 1980s.
Show BibTeX
@article{s_2016_has_the_incidence_of_1967,
author = {Chapman S and Azizi L and Luo Q and Sitas F.},
title = {Has the incidence of brain cancer risen in Australia since the introduction of mobile phones 29 years ago?},
year = {2016},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27156022/},
}