Cell Phone Chatter Linked to Triple Risk of Brain Tumors

Talking on your cell phone for more than 15 hours a month triples the risk of brain cancer, according to a new study.

Scientists from The Bordeaux University said that their latest research suggests that sales and business professionals are especially at risk because they're always travelling and communicating with clients over the phone.

According to the Daily Mail, the average person spends two-and-a-half hours each month on their cell phone. However, business executives and professionals tend to surpass the average phone time by significantly more hours.

The latest study, which analyzed 253 cases of glioma and 194 cases of meningioma reported in four French departments between 2004 and 2006, revealed that people who spend 900 hours on the phone during the course of their career are significantly more likely to develop brain tumors.

When participants were matched against a group of 892 healthy individuals, researchers found that people who used their cell phones most intensively were three times more likely to develop brain tumors compared to those who use their devices less.

The study shows that the people in the risky category used their phones between two and 10 years, with the average person in the group using their phones for five years.

"The carcinogenic effect of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields in humans remains controversial. However, it has been suggested that they could be involved in the aetiology of some types of brain tumors," researchers wrote in the study.

They said the latest findings "support previous findings concerning a possible association between heavy mobile phone use and brain tumors," according to the study's abstract.

"It is difficult to define a level of risk, if any, especially as mobile phone technology is constantly evolving," researchers noted. "The rapid evolution of technology has led to a considerable increase in the use of mobile phones and a parallel decrease of [radio wave intensity] emitted by the phones."

"Studies taking account of these recent developments and allowing the observation of potential long-term effects will be needed," researchers concluded.

The findings were published in the British Occupational and Environmental Medicine Journal.

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