A joint Korea-Japan study has found no link between cell phone electromagnetic radiation exposure and the development of brain or heart tumors.
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced Friday that a long-term animal study conducted with Japanese researchers found no connection between radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic radiation exposure and cancer development.
Research teams from both countries have been conducting the "Korea-Japan Joint Study on Carcinogenicity and Genotoxicity of Mobile Phone RF Electromagnetic Radiation" since 2019.
The experiment divided subjects into three groups: an RF radiation exposure group, a sham exposure group, and a control group. Each group contained 70 male rats that were exposed to 900MHz CDMA electromagnetic radiation throughout their entire lifespan of 104 weeks. The exposure intensity was set at 4W/kg, the level used as the basis for establishing human safety standards.
Results showed similar changes in body temperature, body weight, and food intake across both Korean and Japanese experiments. In the Korean study, tumor incidence rates across all groups fell within natural occurrence ranges, with no statistically significant differences in major organs including the heart, brain, and adrenal glands based on radiation exposure.
The Japanese study also showed no differences in tumor incidence rates or onset timing between groups, with low tumor rates in target organs. The findings concluded that long-term exposure to CDMA cell phone electromagnetic radiation has no significant association with tumor development in the brain, heart, or adrenal glands.
"The fact that the NTP's tumor increase results were not reproduced at exposure levels that form the basis for human protection standards is highly significant," said Ahn Young-hwan, professor at Ajou University School of Medicine and lead researcher. "This will help alleviate excessive concerns about cell phone electromagnetic radiation."
In Korea, the project was led by Dr. Choi Hyung-do's team at ETRI, with participation from Professor Ahn's team at Ajou University School of Medicine and the Korea Institute of Toxicology (KIT). In Japan, Professor Imaida's team at Kagawa University School of Medicine, toxicology specialist company DIMS, and Nagoya Institute of Technology conducted the joint research. The findings were published online the same day in Toxicological Sciences, an international journal in the field of toxicology.