Is there a link between cell phone placement and breast cancer?

This is what you need to know:

1. Cellphones are two-way microwave radios that should not be kept directly on the body.
2. The soft fatty tissue of the breast readily absorbs cell phone radiation.
3. Case Reports are accumulating of young women with no family history getting a diagnosis of breast cancer. The tumors were unusually located directly underneath the skin where they placed their cell phones in their bra. A 2020 case control study found cell phone use significantly increased breast cancer risk, particularly in women who used phones close to their breasts.
4. Research has accumulated linking cell phone radiation to cancer.
5. Doctors voice this advice: Women should not store their cell phones in their bra.

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.

• EHT Letter to T-Mobile
• EHT Letter to Miley Cyrus

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.”

Courtney Kelley and Margot Shaw are two of many women who carried their cell phones in their bras only to develop unusual breast cancers in the areas where the phones were carried. They are telling their stories to raise awareness in a Campaign called Wireless Bubble. Watch Courtney Kelley tell her story. Watch Margot Shaw tell her story. 

Loading Videos...

Click on the images below to view a Powerpoint Presentation on Tiffany Frantz and her struggle with breast cancer after storing the cell phone in her bra for 5 years and to read an open Letter from Traci Frantz. She hopes that you will read her letter at a Council meeting to raise awareness of this issue

Download Safety Cards

Click to View/Download

Click to View/Download

Cell Phones and Breast Cancer: A Review of the Evidence

Published Research on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risks:

• 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

• Read the scientific report: Multifocal Breast Cancer in Young Women with Prolonged Contact between Their Breasts and Their Cellular Phones

• Çiğ et al., 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. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2015
• Kahya et al., Selenium Reduces Mobile Phone (900 MHz)-Induced Oxidative Stress, Mitochondrial Function, and Apoptosis in Breast Cancer Cells. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2014
• The measured electrical properties of normal and malignant human tissues from 50 to 900 MHz Medical Physics, 1993
• 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

CELL PHONES AND BREAST CANCER RESOURCES

• 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
• 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

NEWS STORIES

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

What You Need To Know

• Cell phones emit radiation; the same type as your microwave oven.
• The IARC and WHO classified cell phone radiation as a Group 2b carcinogen.
• Breast tissue absorbs radiation.
• Some women develop breast cancer where they carry their phones in their bras.
• Young women, even with no family history, are developing breast cancer.
• Cell phone manuals tell you not to place your phone directly on your body.
• Doctors recommend keeping your phone out of your bra.
• Research shows a link between cell phone radiation and cancer

What You Can Do

• Keep your phone away from your body, and especially out of your bra.
• Turn your phone on Airplane Mode 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!

These women developed breast cancer where they carried their phone.

Expand to view more.