Do Cell Phones in Bras Cause Cancer?

These days everyone always seems to be on their phones, especially teenagers and young adults. I personally am guilty of this constant need to have my phone on me, even if I’m not using it. Also like the majority of girls I know, I’m also guilty of putting my phone in my bra if my hands are full or I don’t have a pocket. I remember my mom constantly scolding me for this habit in high school, saying the phone was going to give me breast cancer if I keep doing it. So naturally I’m curious if there is any evidence of this rumor.

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Ted Gansler from the American Cancer Society explains his opinion on this matter in his article: Cell Phones, Bras, and Breast Cancer Risk. First off, when cell phones aren’t being used to make calls or text, they still emit low energy electromagnetic signals. This is only periodically and is how they stay in touch with the nearby cell towers. Overall Gansler points out that there are no scientific studies so far that link cell phones to be the cause of breast cancer. Since the average woman diagnosed with breast cancer is around the age of 60, when rare cases emerge of younger women being diagnosed, these situations tend to gain more attention in the media. When they found in a couple of individual cases that the young women all held their phones in their bras, it is easy to link the two together and it makes sense to at least question whether there is a link. When individual case reports are the main source of evidence, it is not very convincing because, “of the possibility that they represent a coincidence rather than cause and effect” (American Cancer Society).

David H. Gorski, who is a surgical oncologist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute speicializing in breast cancer surgery; wrote an article on this topic after watching a Dr. Oz segment where Dr. Oz claimed that phones in bras cause breast cancer. Gorski not only is very clear about his disapproval for Dr. Oz in general but also how he disagrees completely with the statement. Dr. Oz used an individual case, a 21 year old Tiffany Frantz who believed the phone in her bra caused her breast cancer, but offered no scientific evidence other than the cancer was on the same side as where she used to carry her phone. There is not much evidence supporting the idea of radio waves causing cancer in general, mainly because the power level of the radio wave energy used by cell phones is not ionizing. As far as doctors know, “ionizing radiation is what is required to cause or contribute to cancer” (Science Based Medicine). We cannot rule out that there maybe be a potential mechanism not yet discovered, but with the understandings of biology at the moment, it does not seem likely.

Sources: http://www.cancer.org/cancer/news/expertvoices/post/2014/05/13/cell-phones-bras-and-breast-cancer-risk.aspx

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/no-carrying-your-cell-phone-in-your-bra-will-not-cause-breast-cancer-no-matter-what-dr-oz-says/

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