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Health Council of the Netherlands, 2016This report provided an update on two previous reports published by the Health Council of the Netherlands – analysis of the epidemiological data on mobile phones and cancer (published in 2013 (PDF 2.8 mb) and analysis of the data on carcinogenesis in experimental animals (published in 2014 (PDF 862 kb). The council determined that it is not possible to state that there is a proven association between long-term and frequent use of a mobile phone and increased risk of head and neck tumours. However the weak association found from epidemiological observations cannot be excluded. The council concluded that it is unlikely that exposure to radiofrequency (RF) radiation from mobile phone use can cause brain tumour; the combination of bias, confounding and chance could be the explanation for these epidemiological observations.
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Health Council of the Netherlands, 2016The debate on whether heavy mobile phone use causes brain tumour is continuing. This latest report from the council reaffirms the conclusion that there is no established association between long-term and frequent use of a mobile phone and an increased risk for tumours in the brain or head and neck area.
The overall findings from the epidemiological data did show some weak associations between long-term, heavy use of mobile phone and increased incidence of gliomas and acoustic neuromas. Based largely on this limited evidence the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified RF radiation as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
Mobile phone technology will continue to evolve and exposure to RF may continuously change as well. The council recommended that studies into long-term health effects of mobile phone use to be continued, where such studies have credible assessment of the RF exposure.
