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Cellphone Radiation Linked to Cancer Tumors in Rats: US Government Study

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The usage of cellphones as an acceptable means of communication is inevitable in our modern society. Has our constant use of this device heightened our exposure to heart and brain cancer? A US government society found a connection between radiation and cancer tumors in rats.

Cellphone Radiation in Rats Linked to Cancer Tumor Growth

A massive on-going study conducted by the US National Toxicology Program found that rats that have been exposed by cellphone radiation for nine hours, seven days of the week had an increased chance of developing cancers. The specific cancers include heart tumors and malignant brain tumors. The partial findings have sparked anew the debate of whether cellphone radiation may cause the development of heart and brain cancer tumors.

The high exposure cellphone radiation caused most male rats to develop heart and brain tumors. The same thing could not be said for females. However, the studies found that the rats that developed heart and brain tumors due to heavy cellphone radiation exposure lived longer than those not exposed, NBC News shared.


Cellphone Radiation - Rat Cancer Tumors Study Not Applicable to Humans?

National Toxicology Program associate director John Bucher admits that further investigation is will need to be conducted to determine of cellphone radiation can cause cancer tumors. Firstly because the trial is done on lab rats and because the lab rats control group did not develop any tumors, New York Times reported. Dr. Michael Lauer said that the findings may have presented "false positives" because previous studies by the National Toxicology Program had 2 percent of rats develop brain cancer.

Furthermore, the cellphone radiation frequency used on the lab rats were very high and this could have affected the study's findings. Dr Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society said in a statement that the study found a higher-dose, bigger effect trend, however, it does not take away the fact the findings are still partial.

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