Enkey Magazine
Technology information website

Smartphone and cancer: the new technologies aren’t harmful to health

Smartphone and cancer

Often the smartphones are demonized and considered upholders of incurable diseases. The reality is that there aren’t yet sure datas to invoke about the correlation between the smartphones and the cancer and the only sure thing is that the new technologies are much less harmful than the older ones.

The usage of the smartphones and the cancer

Due to the closeness of the devices to the brain, during long calls, they are often linked to cases of brain cancer. In reality from the arrival of the mobile phones to today we didn’t record any increase of cases of brain cancer.

Smartphone and cancer
How much are the mobile phones harmful?

This doesn’t really mean that there isn’t any risk. One must spend many years of exposition, sometimes whole decades, to dangerous substances before that they lead into severe diseases. The mobile phones have spread only in the last two decades, before of there, if they were, they were extremely rare are not much spreaded. But the brain cancers have really long latent periods, up to 30 years. To know about a real increase of the cases or not we have so to wait at least few more years.

But in three decades the things change so fast that we won’t be probably able to know if the cases will really increase or not. We might see an increse of the cancers connected to who abused of the really first devices and then see a further decrease from the moment that the new models, which are less dangerous, arrived.

The electromagnetic radiation

All the mobile phones and the much more modern smartphones emit radiations, but do they really lead into cancer? First of all the radio frequencies don’t arrive only from the mobile phones but from all the radio frequencies’ sources: antennas, radio stations, Wi-Fi and mobile phones.

The electromagnetic waves
All the mobile phones emit electromagnetic waves

To evaluate the exposition level we might consider the place where we spend most of the time: the work place and our own home.

The telecommunication equipments increased in the time, but the intensity of the signs transmitted decreased with the passage from the analogic systems to the digital ones. The distance from fixed environmental sources isn’t a good level indicator of the radio frequencies inside a building because many antennas are directional and the radiofrequencies are schielded by buildings and other natural obstacles”.

About the Wi-Fi, they have low frequencies and intermittent cycles, due to not being a risk for the infrastructures inside which they are present.

The electromagnetic emissions of the smartphones

Doing the math the biggest part of the electromagnetic emissions that we absorb come from the smartphones. But is their quantity enough to make us worry?

To understand the radiation level that the body is able to absorb without the risk of diseases like the cancer we consider the level of SAR (Specific Absorption Rate), which is measured in watt per kilogram. The maximum level established by law is 2 W/Kg. In order that those limites are kept every smartphone put on the market is tested, by assuming the worst scenarios of usage.

One of the elements that most affect those scenarios is the closeness to the radio station. As much the cover is better as less are the emissions.

Said that the results of all the last models of smartphones available on the marketplace are comfortable, because no one of them get close to the SAR imposed by law.

Smartphone and cancer
The new models of smartphone are safe

A total different story was in the past, when the mobile phones were not as much controlled as that and the emissions were surely higher, everything enhanced by the low efficiency of the few radio stations.

The precautions to avoid the risks of cancer due to the usage of smartphone

If we aren’t sure yet we can adopt some further precautions to further reduce the risks of brain cancer. First of all the risks increase with the calls, while during the other functions and during the stand-by, the mobile phone emits really short signs.

For who spend much time with the phone, to work or pleasure, the best thing to do is to use the earphone. Even though there aren’t certain datas about it is better to limit the usage of smartphones and tablets to the younger ones. The children, infact, are much more vulnerable to the electromagnetic emissions, because their nerve system is still in a development phase and because the circumference of their skull is smaller and so is easier to deeply pass it.

Finally, like we said the new technologies are ever more safe and with emissions ever more low. About, for example, the 5G, the Istisan report reassures: “About the future 5G network at the moment isn’t possible to predict the environmental levels of radio frequencies linked to the develop of the Internet of Things; the broadcasters will increase, but they will have lower medium powers compared to the ones of the current implants and the quick temporal variation due to the radiation addressable to the user will make a further reduction of the medium levels of field in the surrounding areas”.

This post is also available in: Italiano