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Wednesday, Dec 12, 2012 10:13 PM UTC

Study: There’s no link between cellphones and cancer

A highly-regarded Epidemiology journal finds no evidence in 20 years of data to back up the commonly held belief

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Topics: Cell-phones, Cancer, glioma, Research, epidemiology, ,

Study: There's no link between cellphones and cancer (Credit: Shutterstock/ Minerva Studio)

A new study published in the highly regard Epidemiology journal has chipped away at entrenched rumors that cellphone use is linked to cancer. The study, flagged by tech news site BGR, focused on Scandinavia — “humanity’s early warning system for a possible mobile phone-related cancer” — since Nordic nations were among the first to mass market cellphones.

According to the study, which analyzed 20 years of data, cellphone usage still cannot be linked to gliomas, a broad range of cancerous tumors that form in the brain or spinal cord. In men, the study found the number of glioma cases had in fact declined since the 1980s.

These findings directly contradict a recent ruling an Italy’s Supreme Court that cellphones do cause cancer. BGR notes that even the highly regarded new study does not foreclose the possibility of lawsuits in the future: “This latest study effectively rules out a clear-cut increase in brain tumors if the delay in the onset of the disease is 10 years or less. But there is one hope yet for America’s class action lawyers: A slight chance that mobile phone use may cause oncogenesis with an atypically long delay.”

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com. More Natasha Lennard.

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