Cell Phone Use Visibly Alters Brain Cell Activity, Study Finds

Researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) evaluated the effects of mobile phone radiation on the brains of 47 health adults. The team placed active phones on both the left and right ears of participants for 50 minutes, while simultaneously taking PET scans to measure brain activity. They found that in the areas of the brain closest to the phone antennas, glucose metabolism increased by seven percent.

"What we showed is glucose metabolism (a sign of brain activity) increases in the brain in people who were exposed to a cell phone in the area closest to the antenna," said Dr. Nora Volkow of NIH, one of the study authors. "What the study does is show the human brain is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation from cell phone exposures."

The researchers were quick to deny any link between the increased brain activity and the propensity towards cancer, but the findings do show that such radiation does, indeed, affect the brain. Like many other studies of this nature, the team suggests that further research be conducted to verify indicators suggesting long-term damage caused by cell phone use.

A 2007 Finnish study published in the International Journal of Cancer did, however, find a link between cell phone use and cancer. Depending on the rate and duration of use, cell phone radiation was shown to be responsible for an up to 270 percent increase in gliomas, a type of brain tumor