Until now, many people probably wonder about the effect of radiation emitted by mobile phones on our body. Due to the fact that mobile phones emit radiofrequency energy (non-ionising radiation) that can be absorbed by the body, many believe that mobile phone radiation may cause cancer. Lots of research found that there is no relation between mobile phone radiation and cancer. However, there are other research argue otherwise.

Results of research conducted by the National Toxicology Program, a part of the National Institutes of Health, showed that the high amount of exposure to radio frequency radiation (RFR) may cause brain cancer and malignant liver tumour on male mice. RFR is a type of radiation commonly emitted by 2G and 3G mobile phones.

The research was conducted for ten years and involved 3.000 rodents. The RFR exposure was done in a special booth, in which each rodent received 9 hours of exposure per day. RFR exposure was done alternately, 10 minutes on and 10 minutes off. There were two types of exposure; low exposure (which equal to the maximum exposure allowed for mobile phone usage), and high exposure (which equal to 4 times the allowed exposure).

Even though the tumour was only found on male mice, the researchers believed that long-term RFR exposure may cause cancer. However, as quoted from New York Times, a senior researcher of NTP stated that the results of the research could not be applied directly to humans since the amount of exposure given was far higher than the amount of exposure commonly received by humans. He stated that the results were uneven since no tumour found on female mice. Also, FDA argued that the amount of radio frequency emitted by mobile phones is very low, so it is not powerful enough to harm humans.

Experts stated that further research is needed to find out more about the effect of mobile phone radiation on human health, particularly the radiation of 4G and 5G mobile phones. However, it is also all right for us to become more disciplined and limit our daily mobile phone usage.

Text by Anggie Triana
Stock photo from Pixabay

Source(s):

• High exposure to radio frequency radiation associated with cancer in male rats (2018). https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181101133924.htm, 13 November 2018.
• Cancer Risk From Cellphone Radiation Is Small, Studies Show (2018). https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/health/cell-phones-cancer.html, 13 November 2018.