Cell Phone and Breast Cancer Update
Let me start this update by first noting that there is no conclusive evidence that cell phones can cause breast cancer. That being said, I would like to provide some recent information that adds to my concern regarding the possible link between placing cell phones in direct contact with the breast and the risk of developing a breast cancer.

In a previous article I reviewed the limited literature on the subject and presented two cases of young women who placed their cell phones in their bras for a number of years. Each woman developed multiple small breast cancers directly below the area where the cell phone was placed on their breast. In the past year I have learned of numerous similar cases including one male who placed his cell phone in his shirt pocket (he had no family history of breast cancer).

Recently, I received an email from a mother whose 22 year old daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer. The daughter had been storing her cell phone in her bra since she was 18 years old. She developed a lump directly below the spot where she placed her cell phone and a biopsy was positive for invasive breast cancer. The mastectomy specimen showed multiple cancers below where the cell phone was placed. This young girl has no family history of breast cancer and she has no other known risk factors. (For more information on this patient please see email below and the link to the family’s website).

Although there is no proof that prolonged cell phone contact with breast skin produces an increase in cancer risk, I think there is sufficient reason for caution. First of all, the manufacturers state that cell phones should not be placed in direct contact with the skin. Also of note, is that younger women may be at greater risk than older women.

We know with certainty that teenage girls are at major increased risk for breast cancer if they are exposed to multiple chest x-rays during their teen years (as is the case for girls with scoliosis). It took many years to prove that x-ray exposure at a young age is a risk factor for early onset breast cancer. If in fact there is such a relationship with cell phones, it is likely to also take years to prove it, and by then the damage will have been done.

As we all know, cell phone use among teenagers is increasing rapidly. One alarming trend is for teenaged girls to hide their cell phones in their bra during school hours. It will not be easy to get these young girls to change their behavior without more convincing evidence of harm. I am appealing to parents to share this information with their teenage daughters and to do whatever they can to convince them not to participate in this potentially risky behavior.

I received the following email a few months ago and I think it should be required reading for every teenage girl who stores her cell phone in her bra. I hope that readers will share this information with friends and family members. If you have any questions, feel free to Ask The Doctor.

________________________________________________________________________
Email received from Traci Frantz:

Dr. West: I am commenting on the article about cell phones and breast cancer. My daughter discovered a lump above her left breast last December. She has undergone an ultrasound, an MRI and a biopsy which resulted in showing she had 4 masses and pathology reports that tested positive for breast cancer. What followed was a single left mastectomy and we are in the confines of radiation and chemo treatments. ALL genetic testing came back NEGATIVE which leads my motherly intuition to blame it on storing her cell phone in her bra for the past 4+ years.

She is now 22 and for a person of that age to have breast cancer is VERY unusual. She has had all treatments and surgery done at John’s Hopkins in Baltimore and I have all doctors noting the fact about her cell phone, but none of them are ready to even possibly acknowledge the fact that her cell phone was the cause.

Joeybra is making a bra that lets a person store their cell phone in their bra. Ever since she was diagnosed with cancer exactly where her cell phone was kept, I have been advocating for her in the awareness of the dangers of storing cell phones in bras. As frustrating as it is to try to convince people that this is a huge possibility and even a probability I will continue to advocate in order to save other young women from having to endure unnecessary breast cancer.

My daughter’s story and my journal entries can be found at www.caringbridge.org/visit/tiffanyfrantz. I too would LOVE to get the word out and hopefully more people will read this and my website I created for Tiffany’s journey in order to educate themselves of such dangers.


http://beawarefoundation.org/cell-phone-breast-cancer-update

That's gross. Why would anybody wanna do that?
Still anecdotal though, no scientific evidence yet

Even women that put money in their bras are guilty of that too.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Only market women store phones in their bras.This thread should be for them.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm na wa this is not for me,4 both money and phone to store in ma breast pocket or bra nah not for me why do i have a wallet and a bag?Ma phone is to ma bag,ma money is to ma wallet!

Tor....we don hear

WOW! I never knew women store their phones in there. Hehehehe

edited

Load of crap. not true.Mcheeew

Y dem dey kip fone for dia nw? Odour from bobbi dey spoil fone o

.

Omgggg I do this. I knew the risk sha, kinda obvious, but I ignored it. Phone radiation........boobs etc.

Just a convenient place to put my phone while biking

slimyem: Only market women store phones in their bras.This thread should be for them.

.

RICHIE BOI: Load of crap. not true.Mcheeew

Ur own worse.

@op, na who get time to dey read that theraja engineering textbook?

Vanneni: They also said (whom I don't know) that when one's phone battery is remaing just a bar you shouldn't pute it close to your ear when making or recieving a call. This is because then the radiation is thrippled. My own lil quota.

just checked ur profile...mehn, babe ur neck long 0o.. (no offence)

hope men dat put deir cell in d pocket dat close to penis will catch cancer too?

I dey put phone for bra hey mkpe i think say na only money oh,i don repent

Food for thought. He who has ear, make he/she hear.

buh i hear with one ear say guyz fit dey suck their gf's bo*bs to reduce brea*t cancer..e be lyk say na dem go dey suffer am ni!

They also said (whom I don't know) that when one's phone battery is remaing just a bar you shouldn't pute it close to your ear when making or recieving a call. This is because then the radiation is thrippled. My own lil quota.

tell that to IYA BASIRA

Tell that to those village girls, some even dey put am for hmm hmm hmm

slimyem: Only market women store phones in their bras.This thread should be for them.

True, but how many of them log into nairaland or read online articles?

Texas.Cowgirl:
Omgggg I do this. I knew the risk sha, kinda obvious, but I ignored it. Phone radiation........boobs etc.

Just a convenient place to put my phone while biking

yeah me too i am guilty of this too especially when i am in the baking hall,market or saloon and there is no where to put it at the same time i dont want to forget it,i just slot it into my breasts,and it sits in my breast comfortably with the help of my bra.

I remember granny use to put her money imside handkerchief,tie it and slot it into her bra.i adopted that too during nysc camp when there was no place to keep money and there was no bank around.even though its dangerous health wise,putting phones and money in the bra is the safest place when there is no alternative however

i dont subscribe to putting phone inside your private part like inside your boxers or pants.this irritating habit is common among market men that sell raw meat.when their phone rings,you will be hearing the sound from inside their sokoto and they will start untieing the rope of their sokotoi to take out their phones.the day i went to buy meat in the market and asked ome of the butchers why he engaged in such act,he said since we dont have breast to keep phone,the easiest and safest place to put it is inside their pant.moreover the whole of their table is filled with raw meat and blood so they cant keep it there,so i said dont you have a pocket,he said if he keeps his phone there,pick pockets will steal his phone and he wont know when his phone disappears while attending to customers.he claimed they have stolen his fone twice when he kept it in his pocket so he said he is comfortable putting his phone inside his willy willy and when he gets home,he will remove it.and i was like i hear you o