Do Cell Phones Cause Brain Tumors?

Suggested lead: If you're concerned about giving a cell phone as a gift because of reports of a cancer connection, a leading brain tumor expert says not to worry.

Friday, November 16, 2001

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Durham, N.C. -- Some of us may be reluctant to give a cellular telephone as a holiday gift because we've heard reports that cell phone use could lead to a brain tumor. Dr. Henry Friedman, co-director of the Brain Tumor Center at Duke University Medical Center, says these reports aren't supported by the facts, and that the amount of radio frequency (RF) energy emitted by cell phones is so minute that it simply couldn't cause a tumor.

"As far as I can tell there's no compelling data that in any way indicts a cell phone for causing a brain tumor. I really hope that's true, because my own cell phone use just continues to accelerate."

Friedman, one of the nation's leading brain tumor experts, says there's simply no proof of a cell phone-brain tumor connection.


"The reality is that whenever somebody says you haven't proven something to not be true and well, we haven't proven that elephants can't fly. So I think that the best
thing to say is that there's no data that proves that a cell phone causes a brain tumor. And as a brain tumor expert, I'm out there using my cell phone a lot."