Last updated April 12, 2019
New and old cell phones have been connecting the world for several decades now, with over 223 million people all around the world using the devices. “The average adult cell phone user makes and receives around five voice calls a day,” notes the senior research specialist at the Pew Research Center, Amanda Lenhart. “That number is the same for teens.”
The debate has to whether cell phones could cause cancer has been raging for around 14 years, a debate that appears to have reached a climax this week, with the World Health Organization acknowledging that there is a risk and placing the devices in the same category as other potential risk factors such as coffee, engine exhaust and gasoline fumes, and the pesticide known as DDT. While some are calling for people not to overreact to the news, noting that the link is still only a possibility rather than a hundred per cent proven fact, others say that people should be worried, and take precautions accordingly. “This report comes from a very credible group and reaches reasonable conclusions about electromagnetic radiation from cell phones and other devices,” says the chief medical officer from the American Cancer Society, Dr Otis Brawley. “It is critical that its findings be interpreted with great care.”
While America’s Food and Drug Administration is still saying there is not enough evidence to prove the link, WHO’s announcement is likely to put the doubters more and more out in the cold.