By now, you have to have heard the rumors of cell phones giving you brain cancer of the biblical proportions. It’s been the greatest proponent for people telling drivers to not use a cell while driving (well, that and the tried and true “You look like a douchebag!”).
Welllllll, scientists just completed a massive, international study of the connection between brain cancer and mobile phone use, and it looks like those people are gonna have to get a new excuse. Maybe.
The new study, called INTERPHONE, is the largest of its type, and was organized by a division of the World Health Organization. Researchers wanted to find out if there was a link between two common types of brain cancer – glioma and meningioma – and mobile phone use. They studied 2,708 people with glioma, 2,409 with meningioma, and 7,658 people in a control group. Their subjects came from 13 different countries.
Unfortunately, results were both inconclusive and kind of weird. Why? It’s hard to conduct a scientific study that’s based in part on self-reported behaviors. Ultimately though, until researchers are able to get better data, it’s impossible to say whether there is a link between mobile phone use and brain cancer.
Some might say that’s not cause for relief, rather, it’s cause for more research. Those people are to be labeled whiners.