Exposure to mobile phone ‘radiation’ poses no health risk – WHO

Exposure to mobile phone radiationdoes not cause cancer or pose any health risks, an official of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

This conclusion was reportedly reached following evidence from scientific research into the effects of mobile phone radiation.

Speaking at the First Digital African Week conference in Abuja on Thursday, Edwin Edeh, WHO Public Health and Environment Specialist, also said 29 per cent of Nigeria’s disease burden is linked to environmental factors.

‘No risk’

He, however, said that radiation from handsets, radio frequencies from mobile phones ”are non-ionising and harmless in spite of their capacity to generate heat”.

He said after an in-depth review of relevant scientific literature, ”the WHO arrived at the conclusion that current evidence does not confirm the existence of any health consequences from exposure to low-level electromagnetic fields”.

He also said, “There are instances where the public have attributed a diffused collection of symptoms such as headache, anxiety, suicide, depression, nausea, fatigue, and loss of sexual urge to low-level exposure to electromagnetic fields.

“To date, scientific evidence does not support a link between these symptoms and exposure to radio frequencies from mobile phones and other telecommunication equipment.

“Despite many studies, the critical effect of high-frequency exposure to human health is simply heating of the exposed body tissue. No large increases in risk have been found for any cancer in a child or adult,” he said.