Q&A: Luc Verschaeve on mobile phone radiation

Is mobile phone radiation dangerous? That key question still hasn’t really been answered

Science has indeed not yet given a clear answer. However, the majority of the scientific community is convinced that there are no negative effects because the exposure is so low. In the case of high exposure you’ll always have thermal effects, which can cause many health problems, including cancer. But radiation from mobile phones, masts and wi-fi routers is very low exposure.

So why hasn’t the issue been settled?

Because there are some scientific studies that do report effects on health. And though these studies are often of poor quality, they’re used by activists to show that mobile phones are dangerous things. The problem is that when a scientist tries to make the distinction between good and poor studies, he’s often accused of partisanship – he’s “paid by the industry”. Trust me, that’s very rarely the case.

The other reason is that we lack information about long-term effects. We’ve only been using mobile phones for 20 years, so the scientific community is cautious about making statements. In terms of the formation of brain tumours, for example, we can’t say anything with complete certainty because these occur only after 20 years or so. In this discussion, even the good studies have their limitations.

Do you think it will be settled one day?

Difficult to say. If there are indeed effects on health, then yes. But to prove with 100% certainty that there are no problems … that’s almost impossible. And the fact that technology keeps on evolving makes it even more difficult. What we’re investigating now may not be relevant in a couple of years. For example, earlier studies that showed a link between mobile phone radiation and brain cancer focused on systems that we don’t use today.

Brussels is turning itself into a 4G hotspot. If there are indeed effects, would 4G be more dangerous than 2G or 3G?

No, on the contrary, 4G would be less dangerous because the intensity of the radiation is lower. If there were to be a problem at all, it would lie in the addition of 4G radiation to the existing 2G and 3G exposure. Additional masts mean a higher general “radiation stress”. So in principle we need to repeat all these studies when a system changes or new systems arrive. However, many scientists don’t think it’s worth investigating this issue again and again, as they’re convinced there’s nothing to be found.