Children talking on their cell phones
Children and adolescents who use cell phones are not at risk for getting brain cancer, according to a recent Swiss study, though further research will be conducted to show long-term effects of cell phone usage. REUTERS

There is no link between cell phone use by children and brain cancer, a new European study concluded. Repeated studies in adults have also failed to find a direct relationship.

Fears have been running rampant as children's brains are still developing but Wednesday's report is likely to calm them.

Swiss scientists evaluated 352 children between ages 7 and 19 who had been diagnosed with brain cancer between 2004 and 2008 in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland. The children were asked about past cell phone use and compared to 646 healthy children.

Fifty percent of each group described themselves as cell phone users, researchers wrote in the Journal of National Cancer Institute. The children who said that they had begun to use cell phones five years earlier than the other were not at an increased risk than normal users.

The number of calls made or time spent on the phone was also found to be statistically insignificant.

Duration or number of calls, or which side of the head the phone was held, also didn't make a statistically significant difference.

There was one small disclaimer. The group of kids for whom researchers were able to check phone-company records who had used cell phones for the longest duration were found to be at increased risk.

On the bright side, researchers at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute said that childhood brain cancer hasn't increased since cell phones appeared.

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