Regularly using a mobile phone does not boost your risk of brain tumours, a major study has concluded.
Despite becoming a staple of modern life, there have been long-standing fears our phones may emit cancer-causing radiation, often peddled by conspiracy theorists.
But research that tracked more than 400,000 Britons over a decade uncovered no link between regular mobile phone use and the prevalence of brain cancers.
Oxford University experts found 0.41 per cent of women who used a mobile phone went on to develop a brain tumour, compared to 0.44 per cent who never used the devices.
The study, which ran during the noughties, adds to the growing body of evidence that dismisses concerns about phones and cancer, the researchers said.
Kirstin Pirie, a statistical analyst and co-author of the study, said: ‘Mobile phone use under usual conditions does not increase brain tumour risk.’
Mobile phone users are at no at a greater risk of developing brain tumours, a study led by University of Oxford researchers claimed today
The study was published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Conspiracy theorists have long claimed radiowaves emitted by phones can penetrate the skull and cause cancer when making a call.
The claims have become even more outrageous in recent years with the advent of 5G, which some claimed was linked to the Covid pandemic.
Oxford researchers drew on data from 400,000 cancer-free women aged 50 to 80 between 2001 and 2011.
Participants were asked about their mobile phone use at the beginning and the end of the study.
Their answers were compared to their health records on both occasions.
Researchers then tracked whether anyone went on to develop three different types of brain tumour: meningioma, pituitary adenoma and acoustic neuromas.
Other factors than can contribute to tumours, such as age, BMI, alcohol intake, smoking and exercise levels, were also considered.
Results showed people who used a phone in some capacity throughout the 10 years actually saw a 5 per cent lower chance of developing brain cancer, than those who never used one during the period.
Women who had used a phone daily over the period had a slightly higher chance — 1 per cent greater.
Meanwhile, those who used a phone less than daily but had a lower risk than those who never used them — 3 per cent smaller.
Experts said the tiny differences in risk between the groups were statistically insignificant.
Overall, of the 286,387 women who had never used a mobile as of 2001, 1,261 went on to develop a brain tumour by 2011 — a rate of 0.44 per cent.
Meanwhile, of the 556,131 who had used one, 2,278 ended the study with a brain tumour (0.41 per cent).
Ms Pirie, a cancer expert at Oxford, said: ‘These results support the accumulating evidence that mobile phone use under usual conditions does not increase brain tumour risk.’
Fears over the cancer-causing potential of mobiles first arose in the 1990s, when the portable phones became a staple in every household.
There was a 39 per cent increase in the diagnosis of brain tumours in the 20 years that followed in Britain, according to Cancer Research UK.
In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer — a subset of the World Health Organization (WHO) — claimed phones could be a possible cause of cancer.
But it admitted there was insufficient data to draw a conclusion and larger studies have since failed to find a link, with experts believing the rise could be due to improved diagnosis.
Mobiles emit radio frequency waves in the form of electromagnetic radiation from their antennaes.
The area of the body closest to the antennae, typically the head, has the potential to absorb some of this energy.
However, numerous scientists have claimed this radiation is non-ionising, meaning they are low energy, low frequency and do not damage cells unlike X-rays.
