Breast Cancer and Cell Phones
What You Need To Know
- Cell phones emit microwave radiation; like your microwave oven, but at much lower power.
- The World Health Organization International Agency for the Research on Cancer classified cell phone radiation as a Group 2B “possible” carcinogen in 2011 and today- over a decade later- numerous WHO experts recommend an upgraded classification.
- Breast tissue absorbs wireless microwave radiation. Research shows a link between cell phone radiation and breast cancer
- Case reports are published documenting how women are developing unusual breast cancers directly where they carry their phones in their bras. Young women, even with no family history, are developing this type of breast cancer.
- Cell phone manuals tell you not to place your phone directly on your body. Most women are unaware of these warnings.
- Numerous doctors and breast cancer surgeons recommend keeping your phone out of your bra.
What You Can Do
- Keep your phone away from your body, and especially out of your bra.
- Turn your phone on Airplane Mode with Bluetooth OFF to shut off the radiation.
- Use wired landlines for calls (not cordless).
- Use wired computers for e-mail and Internet browsing.
- Educate yourself on the published research (see below).
- Download and share these infographics with your friends and family.
- Spread the word on social media. Make your bra a #NoPhoneZone!
Dr. Devra Lee Davis, Founder and President for EHT
Dr. Davis presents a case report of a woman who developed breast cancer right where she kept her phone in her bra. View her slide presentation here.
These women developed breast cancer where they carried their phone.
Tiffany Frantz
Tiffany was only 21 when she was diagnosed with an unusual breast cancer directly under the place she carried her phone in her bra. She did not know that the manual stated she should keep the phone at a distance from her body.
“I WISH there would have been a warning on the outside of the box for ALL of us to read My daughter may not have to fight for her life if it were!” –Traci Frantz, Tiffany’s mother in a letter to City Councils.
Tiffany Frantz developed metastatic breast cancer after storing the cell phone in her bra for 5 years. The tumors were directly wher eshe kept the phone in her bra. Tiffany passed away Saturday, August 28, 2021 at the young age of 31.
- Click on the image below to view a Powerpoint Presentation about her story that her mother uses to educate high school students.
- Click here to read an open Letter from Tiffany’s mother Traci Frantz. She hopes that you will read her letter at a Council meeting to raise awareness of this issue and her letter has been presented to decisionmakers nationwide.
Expand to view more.
Video
- Dr. Lisa Bailey: Cell Phones in Your Bra, Bad Idea!
- Breast Cancer Make Your Bra a No Phone Zone
- Did Your Cell Phone Give You Breast Cancer?
- Cellular Phone and Breast Cancer: A Link?
- Dr. Oz Show: 21-year-old Tiffany Frantz developed breast cancer where she carried her phone
- Traci Frantz Letter on Cell Phone in the Bra Cancer Risk: Berkeley City Council 11/18/2014
- Dr. Vikki Petersen: Is Your Cell Phone Creating Breast Cancer?
- KTVU 2 story on cell phones and breast cancer
- Fox 45 story on cell phones and breast cancer
- Mothers Story of Breast Cancer From Cell Phone In Bra
- Devra Davis on the Dr. Steve show
- Dr. John West on cell phones and breast cancer
- Cell Phones Linked To Breast Cancer?
- A conversation with Dr. Devra Davis, Dr. Jay Harness, Dr. Rich Bevan-Thomas and Todd Hartley
- A conversation with Dr. Mitchell Gaynor and Dr. Devra Davis
News
- Daily Mail article: Mother who kept her phone in her bra every day for 10 YEARS is convinced it caused her terminal breast cancer
- Doctors: Women who store phone in bras at risk for breast cancer
- San Francisco Globe: Breast Cancer and Cell Phones: Early Detection To Survival
- Keep that cell phone out of your bra: Open forum On Your Health
- Mirror UK: This mum believes carrying her mobile phone in her bra for 15 years could have given her breast cancer
Research
- The Association Between Smartphone Use and Breast Cancer Risk Among Taiwanese Women: A Case-Control Study
- Electromagnetic field exposure and male breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis of 18 studies
- Rodrigues NCP, Dode AC, Andrade MKdN, O’Dwyer G, Monteiro DLM, Reis INC, Rodrigues RP, Frossard VC, Lino VTS. The Effect of Continuous Low-Intensity Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields from Radio Base Stations to Cancer Mortality in Brazil. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(3):1229. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031229
- For all cancers and for the specific types investigated (breast, cervix, lung, and esophagus cancers), the higher the exposure to RBS (radio base stations- cell antenna installations) radiofrequency, the higher the median of mortality rate. In capitals where radio base station radiofrequency exposure was higher than 000/antennas-year, the median of the breast cancer mortality rate was 27.33/100,000, while for all cancers, it was 111.68/100,000 (Table 1).
- Multifocal Breast Cancer in Young Women with Prolonged Contact between Their Breasts and Their Cellular Phones
- Investigation of the Effects of Distance from Sources on Apoptosis, Oxidative Stress and Cytosolic Calcium Accumulation via TRPV1 Channels Induced by Mobile Phones and Wi-Fi in Breast Cancer Cells.
- Selenium Reduces Mobile Phone (900 MHz)-Induced Oxidative Stress, Mitochondrial Function, and Apoptosis in Breast Cancer Cells.
- The measured electrical properties of normal and malignant human tissues from 50 to 900 MHz
- The Ecology of Breast Cancer The promise of prevention and the hope for healing Ted Schettler MD, MPH Chapter 6 starting on page 126 is about cell phones.
- Rethinking Breast Cancer Risk and the Environment: The Case for the Precautionary Principle
- Hormones, hormone metabolism, environment, and breast cancer: a workshop of the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer’s Etiology Working Group
- Medical hypothesis: xenoestrogens as preventable causes of breast cancer
- Effects of pesticides on the ratio of 16 alpha/2-hydroxyestrone: a biologic marker of breast cancer risk
- Can environmental Estrogens cause breast cancer?
- Medical hypothesis: bifunctional genetic-hormonal pathways to breast cancer
- Avoidable causes of breast cancer: the known, unknown, and the suspected
- Recent developments on the avoidable causes of breast cancer
- Association between biomarkers of environmental exposure and increased risk of breast cancer
Additional Resources
Dr. Devra Davis, president of Environmental Health Trust has been working for decades on the environmental causes of breast cancer. She now is raising awareness about the health risks of cell phone radiation. Her letters references the scientific reviews that conclude that cell phone radiation can cause cancer (Carlberg and Hardell, 2017; Miller et al., 2018). Senior advisors to the World Health Organization have concluded that if cell phone radiation were evaluated at this time, it would be considered a probable, if not fully confirmed human carcinogen (Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (European Parliament) & Belpoggi, 2021; Melnick, 2019; Portier, 2021).
In 2022, the Environmental Health Trust (EHT) sent a letter to Dolly Parton, Miley Cyrus and Michael Sievert, president and CEO of T-Mobile U.S., asking for the company to pull one of its commercials that aired in the Super Bowl. In the commercial, Dolly Parton removes a cell phone from her bra.
Numerous doctors recommend that people keep the phone away from the brain and body, especially the breast.
- EHT organized a conference at the San Francisco Commonwealth Club featuring breast surgeon Dr. Lisa Bailey, former president of the American Cancer Society of California who gave a lecture recommending women keep cell phones out of the bra.
- The Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition created educational curriculum for classrooms to prevent breast cancer. Go to “Let’s Talk Prevention Classroom Module 3 Cell Phone and Wireless to download the curriculum.
- In 2017 the California Department of Health released an advisory on how to reduce cell phone radiation stating, “Carry your cell phone in a backpack, briefcase, or purse; NOT in a pocket, bra or belt holster.”
- The American Academy of Pediatrics and the North Carolina Public Health Department’s Department both state “Avoid carrying your phone against the body like in a pocket, sock, or bra. Cell phone manufacturers cannot guarantee that the amount of radiation you are absorbing will be at a safe level.”
- Green Gazette:HEALTH ISSUES | Save the Girls. Make the Bra a No-Phone Zone
- CBS News Story: Doctors: Women who store phone in bras at risk for breast cancer
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Breast Cancer from Cell Phones in a Bra? Young Women Cancer Statistics
- Prevent Cancer Now: Prevention and Personal Exposures
- Prevent Cancer Now: Printable on The Safer Use of Wireless Communications Devices
- Factsheet on Breast Cancer and The Environment: Breast Cancer Action
- Breast Cancer & Our Environment: The Breast Cancer Fund
- Breast Cancer Risk and Environmental Factors NIEHS FactSheet
- Breast Cancer Action also hosts a series of webinars
- Toxic Cosmetics: Whats in Your Personal Care Products and What You Can Do About It
- New Report on Breast Cancer and the Environment: A Briefing for Advocates
- Protecting Our Health and Environment: Uniting to Change U.S. Chemical Policy
- Toxic Cosmetics Part 2: Demanding Stronger Regulation
- The Ecology of Breast Cancer with Ted Schettler, MD, MPH