Moms-to-be needn't worry about cell phone towers

Cell phones have come a long way over the past 20 years, with brick-sized monstrosities from the '80s being replaced by the sleek lines of the latest iPhone or Droid handset. The uses we put our phones to have also proliferated, with many phones doubling as web browsers, media players, cameras and GPS devices.

As with pretty much all new technologies, there have been health concerns. A large study recently found that cell phone use doesn't seem to increase the risk of brain cancer, but said that long-term heavy use might warrant further investigation.

The effects of cell phone towers have also been a concern for some people. A quick trawl of the internet turns up plenty of stories about people protesting planned cell phone towers in their community.

A new study puts some of these concerns to rest, by showing that there's no increased risk of cancer for children whose mother lived near a cell phone tower during her pregnancy.

Researchers looked at most of the cases of childhood cancer in the UK that occurred between 1999 and 2001. The UK is one of the most connected countries in the world, with more cell phones than people. Using data from the UK's four network operators, the researchers worked out the children's exposure to cell phone towers, based on their mother's registered address during pregnancy. A group of healthy children were selected to act as a comparison group.

It made no difference whether women lived near a cell phone tower or not during their pregnancy. There was no effect on their child's risk of developing cancer.

If anything, healthy children tended to live slightly closer to a cell phone tower, on average. The average distance between the registered home of a healthy child and a tower was 1,073 meters (0.67 miles). The average child who'd developed cancer lived 1,131 meters (0.70 miles) from a cell phone tower.

The researchers only looked at cell phone towers, and didn't measure the children's exposure to other kinds of radio waves. Also, the study only looked at childhood cancers that occurred before the age of 4, so we can't rule out a longer-term effect. But the researchers say there's little reason to worry, as there's no known biological process by which a cell phone tower mast could affect children's chances of getting cancer.

The study was funded through the UK Mobile Telecommunications Health Research Programme, which is jointly funded by the UK health department and the mobile phone industry.

What you need to know. There's no evidence to suggest that living near a cell phone tower while pregnant will lead to any increased risk of cancer for your child.

—Philip Wilson, patient editor, BMJ Group

ConsumerReportsHealth.org has partnered with The BMJ Group to monitor the latest medical research and assess the evidence to help you decide which news you should use.

—Aaron Bailey