Lingering Questions About Cell Phone Cancer Risks Prompt Congressional Inquiry

Saying questions about whether cell phones cause cancer are just like the cloud of suspicion that surrounded cigarettes for decades before tobacco use was definitively linked to cancers, a Congressional leader is vowing to thoroughly investigate the possible link between cell phone use and cancer.

An estimated 275 million Americans go through much of the day with a cell phone stuck to one ear, making the ubiquitous electronic devices a major part of modern communication. There have long been questions about whether radio wave emissions from the phones can cause cancer in users, but despite more than 50 years of scientific research, no study has ever solidly either ruled out the risk or proven that it exists.

Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the newly appointed chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, is now vowing to deeply look into any possible links between the use of cell phones and cancer. Harkin took over leadership of the influential Senate committee from Sen. Edward Kennedy, who recently died of brain cancer.

Are Cell Phones the New Cigarettes?

Harkin said the handling of the possible cancer risks from cell phone use seems to him just like the long delay that came before authorities officially identified the cancer risks now commonly tied to cigarettes.

“I’m reminded of this nation’s experience with cigarettes,” Harkin said, according to a Reuters news report. “Decades passed between the first warnings about smoking tobacco and the final definitive conclusion that cigarettes cause lung cancer.”

Harkin recently scheduled a subcommittee hearing to investigate the cell phone-cancer link and said he will work with other authorities, including the National Institutes of Health, to fully look into the issue.

What prompted Harkin’s interest in the possible link between cell phones and cancers? Apparently, a recent report from the Environmental Working Group showing that radio waves emitted from the phones vary depending on the brand of cell phone and other research suggesting a link piqued the senator’s interests.

Let’s Get an Answer to This Question

It’s fair to say the time has come to once and for all answer the question about whether or not the use of cell phones causes or increases the risks of cancer. Decades after the devices started being widely used, we still don’t have a clear answer on the risks. All we have are inconsistent scientific studies and a lot of hot air about a possible connection and that simply is not enough when the health and safety of hundreds of millions of Americans and billions of people worldwide is at stake.

We wish Senator Harkin good luck in quickly getting to the bottom of this important and for one reason or another largely unanswered public health issue.

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