Cancer and 5G; Why are they being talked about together?

In the late 2010s, you could scroll through the internet and find confident claims that 5G causes cancer. These posts often cite terms like “DNA damage,” linking to dense papers as proof.

This is a familiar case of scientific nuance being equated into certainty. Di Ciaula (2018) reviews biological signals (e.g., oxidative stress, gene expression changes) and argues for a precautionary approach as 5G rolls out. That kind of early-stage evidence is valuable to scientists, but with that advanced vocabulary it’s routinely misconstrued online as causal proof of cancer.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified radiofrequency fields as possibly carcinogenic, (Group 2B) which recommends investigating further and not provide any absolute claims (IARC, 2013). Secondly, exposure guidelines from the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) were updated in 2020 and are designed to protect against established adverse that involve 5G (ICNIRP, 2020). Thirdly, World Health Organization (WHO) reviews to date have not confirmed a causal link between typical Radio frequency exposures from mobile networks and cancer (WHO, 2020). These sources indicate that popular claims of a proven cancer risk from 5G are inconclusive with current consensus.

The reality is the risk is more of the downstream effects of misinformation: anxiety, medical avoidance, and policy distraction from higher-impact cancer risks like inactivity, tobacco and alcohol.  

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Di Ciaula, A. (2018). Towards 5G communication systems: Are there health implications? International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 221(3), 367–375.

International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). (2013). Non-ionizing radiation, Part 2: Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, No. 102). International Agency for Research on Cancer.

International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) (2020). Guidelines for Limiting Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (100 kHz to 300 GHz). Health physics, 118(5), 483–524.

World Health Organization. (2020). Radiation: 5G mobile networks and health https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-5g-mobile-networks-and-health