Mobile phone use does not cause cancer: Study

It is finally official – mobile phones do not cause cancer.

The Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) programme has finally concluded its study, which lasted 11 years and cost £13.6 million.

The final report said there was no scientific evidence linking mobile phone use with an increased risk of cancer.

The findings would hopefully put to rest fears that the emissions from both mobile phones and base stations had adverse effects on health, according to commentators.

It was believed that prolonged exposure to the kind of radiation could induce cancer in the user as also in unborn children of pregnant mobile phone users.

There was also a period not long back when some devices and even stickers in that claimed the ability to reduce such emissions had hit the market.

The MTHR programme funded by the UK government and telecommunications industry was aimed at ending the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.

However, some might question the impartiality of the research given the involvement of the telecom industry, commentators point out.

The MTHR was also overseen by an independent committee to ensure absence bias from the industry involvement.

MailOnline quoted professor David Coggon, chairman of MTHR, as saying, when the MTHR programme was first set up, there were many scientific uncertainties about possible health risks from mobile phones and related technology.

He added the independent programme was now complete, and despite exhaustive research, the researchers found no evidence of risks to health from the radio waves produced by mobile phones or their base stations.

He added, thanks to the research conducted within the programme, one could now be much more confident about the safety of modern telecommunications systems.

The latest findings support 2012 research which showed mobile and Wi-Fi technology did not cause cancer and caused no damage to health.

There study also found no link between exposure to power lines during pregnancy and childhood leukaemia.

In a Norwegian study researchers assessed health hazards from low-level electromagnetic fields generated by radio transmitters, but the Norwegian Expert Committee could find no scientific evidence, that exposure posed a health risk.

These electromagnetic fields are not limited to mobile phones, wireless phones and networks, mobile phone base stations, broadcasting transmitters and other communications equipment too produce electromagnetic fields.

The latest research also lends support to a 2011 study from Imperial College London which found that living close to a mobile phone mast did not increase a child's chance of developing a brain tumour or a tumour of the central nervous system.