“Mobile phones don’t cause cancer”, NCC declares amidst rumors

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has come out to dispel rumors circulating the media and quoting the Commission to have said mobile phones cause cancer.

This was made known in a statement made public by the Commission debunking the said rumor that was ostensibly inferred from NCC’s Presentation at the Stakeholder Forum on Type-Approval of Devices in Ado Ekiti.

According to the NCC, there is no scientific proof to substantiate that mobile phones through non-ionizing radiation cause cancer and that the Commission’s representative only told participants at the forum to ensure that the devices they sell and use are type approved - certified by the NCC in compliance with the regulations and guidelines of the Commission.

“The attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has been drawn to reports in some mass media ostensibly quoting the Commission to the effect that mobile phones cause cancer.

“The Commission wishes to state unequivocally that it never issued any statement or made any presentation to that effect because there is no scientific basis to make such declaration,” the NCC said.

“The Commission wishes to restate its commitment not only to the protection of consumer rights but also to consumers’ education that help all stakeholders to take informed decisions. Accordingly, the Commission hereby reiterates that many studies have been conducted on the effects of non-ionizing radiation and there is no conclusive evidence that non-ionizing radiation increases the risk of cancer,” the NCC added.

NCC, however, informed the general public to visit www.icnirp.org; www.cancer.co.uk; www.emf-portal.org where studies, writings and other scholarly works related to this matter have been published to better learn about it.

Quoting the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) to buttress its point, the statement read, “A large number of studies have been performed over the last two decades to assess whether mobile phones pose a potential health risk. To date, no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use” www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs193/en (Accessed September 5, 2017).

“Acute and long-term effects of HF exposure from the use of mobile phones have been studied extensively without showing any conclusive evidence of adverse health effects.” http://www.icnirp.org/…/applicatio…/mobile-phones/index.html (Accessed September 5, 2017).”

Similarly the NCC informed that, there is a parameter called Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) which has a threshold below which it is safe to use a phone, and all phones approved by the Commission have SAR below the threshold mark which makes those phones safe for use.