to wish they would stop telling my DD nonsense

[macdoodle]

DD1 is 13, she has a friend whose mother seems to believe all sorts of rubbish. And they keep scaremongering. Ridiculous stuff.
The latest....if you keep your phone in your bra you get breast cancer . DD1 keeps all sorts in her bra
Before that it was if you tweak your nipples you get breast cancer. They seem deadly serious.
I am a GP and very scientific/evidence based, always very straight up an honest with my children.
This seems to throw DD1 and she rings to check! She is away on a school trip and has just texted to ask if its ok to keep her phone in her bra. I've told her she can keep the bloody thing wherever she likes and it wont give her cancer.

Presumably she's not using it whilst its in her bra (or things are really going to get pretty weird) - how much radio-energy (or whatever its called) is emitted from a phone whilst its in standby - it surely can't be much. Much more likely you get zapped whilst using it (ie brain cancer) but a Danish study last year which looked retrospectively at those who had a mobile phone from 1987 - 1990 then followed the population who didn't have mobile phones. The two groups were followed from 1990- 2007 and no difference in the incidence of brain cancer were found.

This was based on pretty much the whole of the Danish population and whilst you could still nitpick about some minor biases (eg it doesn't take into account corporate use but that is small relative to the overall population, and it doesn't take into account volume of usage) it is still a raher convincing indicator that use of mobile phones is unlikely to contribute to cancer.

I agree with ObfusKate (even though my brain is fried and it's nearly an hour after it already was) - take hexavalent chromium, for e.g. Carcinogenic, definitely causes cancer, but not in everyone exposed to it. Bloody dangerous stuff though.

From a Forbes discussion of this topic (though specific to brain cancer)

Nevertheless, balanced people should consider the substantial evidence of different types that has accumulated to date. This includes:

a large body of epidemiologic studies, which, as evaluated by non-partisan organizations like the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, fail to demonstrate any consistent or large association;
extensive laboratory studies which, with few exceptions, provide no evidence that radiofrequency energy is tumorigenic;
theoretical considerations, including the fact that radiofrequency energy is orders of magnitude weaker than the energy of the molecules in our body, making it rather implausible that it could affect cells.
Finally, the past two decades have seen an explosive growth in cell phone use from 0 to 5 billion cell phone subscriptions. In spite of this, rates of brain tumors in advanced industrial countries show no evidence of an increase in specific types of brain tumors. This includes Scandinavian countries, which have country-wide tumor registries.

Why don;t people who carry their phones in their pockets get bladder or bowel cancer or skin cancer? [cancer]

Why only breast cancer?

MacDoodle you need to buy your DD a lead phone case just in case.

Kew I don't buy the theory but I imagine proponents would claim it is due to the proximity to lymph nodes?

My mum had bladder cancer - believe me, plenty of lymph nodes in the groin - her cancer had spread to them!

PS - she didn;t have a mobile phone at the time.

Ummm there are no lymph nodes in the breast....plenty in the axilla. So probably best not to carry your phone under your arm.....

Is it a teenage thing to keep things in your bra?

apparently keeping your phone in your bra is bad for the phone because of the moisture that can build up in your cleavage, not sure how much evidence there is for that but i was told it by a lady who repairs phones.

Some one does need to design a pocket bra mentioned up thread would be ace. Pocket for a fiver pocket for a chap stick, mobile phone.... odd silhouette.