ARPANSA has published a new study looking at mobile phone use and brain cancer incidence in Australia.

13 December, 2018.

A study led by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) published with the British Medical Journal Open found no link between the use of mobile phones in Australia and incidence of brain cancers.

The study, conducted in conjunction with The University of Wollongong, Monash University and the University of Auckland, looked at the incidence of different types of brain tumours in adults including glioma, glioblastoma and meningioma diagnosed between 1982 and 2013. The brain cancer diagnoses of 16 825 cases was compared with the uptake of mobile phone subscriptions in Australia.

The study found:
- The overall brain tumour rates remained stable throughout this period and showed no increase when compared with the increase of mobile phone use in Australia.
- There was an increase of glioblastoma during 1993 and 2002 which was attributed to better diagnostic techniques with advances made in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology.
- Although mobile phone use has risen rapidly since 2003 there has been no increase in any brain tumour types since then.
- Since 2003 there has also been no increase in brain tumours of the temporal lobe, which is the location most exposed when using a mobile phone.

For full text of the news release:
https://www.arpansa.gov.au/news/new-arpansa-study-finds-no-link-between-mobile-phone-use-and-brain-cancers