IARC published "World Cancer Report 2020"
5 February, 2020.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has launched World Cancer Report: Cancer Research for Cancer Prevention on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of World Cancer Day, 4 February 2020.
The new IARC World Cancer Report focuses on prevention and offers the most comprehensive overview of relevant research available to date, ranging from descriptive etiology, cellular and molecular biology, toxicology and pathology through to behavioural and social science. Key chapters include discussions on the impact of inequalities in cancer, vaccination and screening, genomic individual susceptibility to cancer, and the finer identification of those at risk, which may enable precision cancer prevention.
Regarding radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF), the report mentiond as follows:
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Chapter 2.5 Ionizing radiation and radiofrequency electromagnetic fields: Further clarification of particular risks
Summary:
Most of the epidemiological research does not support an association between mobile phone use and tumours occurring in the head, which is the body part with the highest exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. In studies reporting positive associations, it is difficult to exclude various forms of bias, such as recall bias in retrospective exposure assessment.
Fundamentals:
Most of the exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields arises from people’s own mobile phone calls, and thus the head is the most exposed body part.
Despite considerable research efforts, no mechanism relevant for carcinogenesis of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields has been consistently identified to date. Also, most of the epidemiological research does not indicate carcinogenicity of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. This implies that any potentially undetected risk is expected to be small from an individual perspective.
Chapter 5.15 Brain cancer: Increasing attention on the immune response
Summary:
The topic of mobile phones and brain tumours remains controversial despite decades of research and results from numerous observational studies. Some studies have reported a higher relative risk for heavy use of mobile phones, but incidence rates of malignant tumours have not increased over the past three decades.
6.8 Governmental action to control carcinogen exposure: Multiple options covering diverse scenarios
Mobile phones:
Concern about children's health is evident in some actions to reduce exposure from mobile phones. Children hold phones closer to their brains than adults do, and the bone and marrow in children’s skulls have higher conductivity. Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields from mobile phones have been classified by the IARC Monographs as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B), with positive associations for glioma and acoustic neuroma. Although regulation of mobile
phone use mostly aims to reduce distractions while driving or in the classroom, some health agencies have acted in response to the possible risk of cancer, citing the IARC Monographs findings. Since 2014, Belgium has banned the sale and advertising of mobile phones designed for children younger than 7 years, and sellers are required to disclose a phone's specific absorption rate of energy. In 2017, the state of California in the USA issued guidance to reduce exposure to energy from mobile phones.
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Full text of "World Cancer Report" is available from:
https://www.iarc.fr/news-events/iarc-launches-new-world-cancer-report-on-20th-anniversary-of-world-cancer-day/