“Genetic susceptibility influences the association between cell phone use and thyroid cancer” News-Medical
Readers might encounter this text by browsing the internet, especially News-Medical, or by seeing it shared by someone on social media. I found this post by searching for recent studies on Google. “Radiation from cell phones is associated with higher rates of thyroid cancer among people with genetic variations in specific genes, a new study led by the Yale School of Public Health finds.” Is the radiation from cell phones actually associated with thyroid cancer?
After searching on Snopes for “thyroid cancer,” I wasn’t able to find anything besides patients requesting thyroid guards to prevent thyroid cancer during x-rays. Politifact didn’t have anything on the situation, either. The claim in the article is that “Cell phone users with SNPs in four of the genes studied were more than two times likely to develop cancer. The researchers examined a total of 176 genes and identified 10 SNPs that appear to increase the risk of thyroid cancer among cell phone users” (Sciencedaily). There are multiple articles online that aren’t necessarily CNN or Fox, so my guess about this claim is that it is false. “According to the American Cancer Society’s most recent report, there were nearly 53,000 new cases of thyroid cancer in the United States, resulting in 2,180 deaths. Thyroid cancer is three times more common in women and is diagnosed at a younger age than most other cancers” (Sciencedaily).
Clinical OMICs claims that cell phone radiation is linked to thyroid cancer, as well. “Cell phone users with SNPs in four of the genes studied were more than two times more likely to develop cancer. Overall, the researchers found 10 SNPs that appear to increase the risk of thyroid cancer among cell phone users” (Clinical OMICs). Clinical OMICs made the same claim that Sciencedaily did. Their sentences are almost word for word. This leads me to believe that some sources are taking information from other sources and making their own articles based off of information they read.
After searching Facebook, BioNews Central posted an article stating “Study links thyroid cancer, genetic variations, and cell phone use.” Yet again, the sentences from Sciencedaily and Clinical OMICs is used. “Cell phone users with SNPs in four of the genes studied were more than two times likely to develop cancer. The researchers examined a total of 176 genes and identified 10 SNPs that appear to increase the risk of thyroid cancer among cell phone users” (BioNews). I’m finding repeats throughout my searches, but none of them are reliable sources.
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