Study that found cell phones cause cancer in rats is riddled with red flags

(credit: kaboompics)

Late last week, headlines blared that a new, $25 million, years-long government study had finally found a clear connection between cellphone radiation and tumors in rats—striking fear in the hearts of gadget lovers worldwide. The finding—if true—would suggest we’re headed for an upsetting uptick in cancer incidence and death. Mobile phones, after all, are ubiquitous and many among us have a near religious devotion to them if not an unhealthy codependence.

Luckily for us, the study does not provide that clear link.

The study, which was not properly peer reviewed—despite what some outlets have reported—is chock full of red flags: small sample sizes, partially reported results, control oddities, statistical stretches, and a slim conclusion. In short: “there is nothing in this report that can be regarded to be statistically significant,” Donald Berry, a biostatistics professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, told Ars. “The authors should have used the “black box warning.”

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