Could Your Cell Phone End Up Killing You?

In the debate over cell phones, there doesn't appear to be any consensus on what, exactly, the harmful health effects on cell phone users may be. Unfortunately, the scary truth is that no one knows the full extent of problems caused by these must-have consumer electronics, because they've only become ubiquitous in recent years.

Nevertheless, at least one group of people who has been using cell phones longer than the rest of us has started to draw some connections.

In an extensive piece on cell phone health hazards in this month's issue of GQ, a 35-year-old investment banker who five years ago was diagnosed with a brain tumor just behind his right ear -- where he presses his phone -- said that his industry has, "been using cell phones since 1992, back when they were the Gordon-Gekko-on-the-beach-kind-of-phone." The banker said four or five colleagues at his firm also have similar tumors.

Indeed, health experts say many often miss the fact that it can take anywhere from 10 to 30 years for brain tumors to develop from exposure to all kinds of electromagnetic radiation, including the kind from cell phones.

But it doesn't always have to take so long. LeBron James, the 24-year-old star basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers had a benign parotid tumor removed in June last year. While the cause of his tumor is undefined, radiation is likely to be the culprit -- and cell phone use may be, too.

Both benign and malignant tumors of the parotid, a salivary gland, have long been linked to ionizing radiation including X-rays and gamma radiation following environmental exposure. (Nagasaki and Hiroshima survivors are one example.) And in a widely cited 2008 study, parotid tumors have been linked to cell phone use.

The report includes some stats that are enough to make even the most ardent addict consider dropping his or her iPhone or Blackberry. If you've used your cell phone regularly for five years, your chance of having a parotid tumor is increased by 34 percent. If you've had more than 5,479 calls in your lifetime, your chances are upped by 58 percent. For folks who live further from big cities, prospects are even dimmer -- your chances of getting a parotid tumor are increased by 96 percent if you have a lifetime exposure of more than 1,035 hours. (While you might imagine living in a big city exposes you to more cell phone radiation, in rural areas, cell phone towers are further apart so mobile phones have to emit higher levels of radiation in order to communicate with the nearest antenna.)

Of course, not everyone is on board with the idea that mobile phones are bad for you. The forthcoming Interphone study, a massive decade-long, 13-country epidemiological study of tumors among users of mobile phones, is expected to be less alarmist than the parotid tumor study. The problem with that study, however, is that its $30-million price tag is being footed by none other than the wireless industry. And the study is getting more expensive as it's been fraught with delays, reportedly caused by the researchers' inability to reach consensus.

In anticipation of what seems like the study's impending release, the International Electromagnetic Field Collaborative released a report (PDF) last year criticizing the presumed results of the Interphone study. The methodology is flawed, says the IEFC, because it excludes, among other things, cordless phones, children and young adults (presumed to be among the more vulnerable demographics, due to faster cell growth and thinner skulls), certain kinds of tumors and interviews with deceased and too-sick patients.

In the IEFC report, 43 scientists from 13 countries also reviewed evidence linking cell phone use to brain tumors. Among the studies cited was a sobering Swedish one that found a 420 percent higher risk of brain cancer among people who had started using cellular or cordless phones as teens. Older analog cell phones, which are now mostly out of use, were found to increase cancer risk by 700 percent.