Find out what information Dr. Harness gives an 8th grader writing an essay on the relationship between cell phones and breast cancer.
Jay K. Harness, MD, FACS: I received a really sweet e-mail from an 8th grader in Ontario, Canada who is working on an essay for school and this 8th grader had seen my video about the association of the use of cell phones in breast cancer, and if you need to review that, it is on breastcanceranswers.com.
But I was really touched by this e-mail. This 8th grader is working on an essay and wants to know more about this potential association of cell phone use and breast cancer, and as part of my response back to this 8th grader, I have also done some additional research on the subject.
Now, what I shared before I want to share again. There have been a few, what we call anecdotal, sporadic may be is a better word, cases of women placing their cellphone inside their bra for time periods up to five years. These were very, very sporadical case reports, and actually two of them came from here in Orange County, by one of my colleagues who also works at St. Joseph hospital.
Now, what is the potential danger of cell phones for whether it is breast or brain or here on the side of the face called the parotid gland. The cell phones put out energy (radio frequency energy) and they can heat tissue also too close and study after study, the big issue is particularly coming out of Europe about cell phone use increasing the risk of brain tumors.
I think that is the most I have been able to find in the literature, a few things also about the parotid gland here because we hold the cell phones so close to ourself etc.
What is the bottom line of all these studies that have been looked at? There is no direct link between cell phone use and brain cancer, parotid gland cancer, and this business of breast cancer. These just are just little sporadic cases so we cannot say but I will get back to that in a minute.
Now, what these studies are all saying is we can’t say that the use of cell phones causes cancer, nor can we say that is absolutely does not. So therefore there’s all sorts of important recommendations about cell phone use, particularly in younger people, particularly in children. One of the important recommendations for children is that they should only use their cell phones for emergencies.
Number two, lot of people recommending now: putting one of the ear plugs in connected on a little cord down to your cell phone, or using the speakerphone on your cell. The little things that you wear in your ear with the little mic down here at the side, you cannot remember something — that is putting out energy too. It may not be as much RF energy as a cell phone itself but it is also through the Bluetooth connection putting out energy. So what I personally do is I use my speaker as much as I can, or I do the plug in earpiece up to my ear.
Now, I don’t know where to go further on this issue of breast cancer and cell phones other than I would absolutely warn women “Please don’t put your cell phones inside your bra and if you do, do it only for a short period of time. Don’t put it always at the same place.”
These few little sporadic cases that I have read about, they were long term uses of cellphone in the same place all the time, five years or longer. Was it coincidence that the cancers developed in those exact spots or was it causative? I cannot give you the answer, but like every new technology, we have always got to be careful.
And I would ask my 8th grader in Ontario, Canada, “Hey, let me know how your essay worked, okay? Good luck!”
Dr. Jay K. Harness is a board certified surgeon currently treating patients at St. Joesph Hospital in Orange, CA. Dr. Harness specializes in complete breast health, breast cancer surgery, oncoplastic reconstruction, genetic screening, management of breast health issues, risk assessment and counseling. Dr. Harness is the medical director for Breast Cancer Answers.com, and guides this first ever social media show’s information by drawing on his former leadership experience as the President of the American Society of Breast Surgeons and Breast Surgery International. Dr. Harness graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1969 and spent time early on in his career at the University of Michigan Medical Center.
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