Fears that cell phones might cause brain cancer have persisted through the years, because they emit electromagnetic radiation and people hold them against their heads. 

But a review of 28 years of research concludes that they are not linked to cancer. 

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Previous studies and reviews of research have generally concluded there is no scientific evidence for a causal link between mobile phone use and cancer. But a 2011 study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer caused widespread alarm when it classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields associated with wireless phone use as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” The study cited an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer.

However, the latest research review, published Wednesday in the journal Environment International, determined there was no overall association between mobile phone use and brain cancer or any other head and neck cancer, even with prolonged use over a period of years. Researchers also concluded that children exposed to cell phone towers or TV and radio transmitters did not have an increased risk of brain cancer or leukemia.

“These results are very reassuring,” Ken Karipidis, a lead author of the review, told reporters, per The Washington Post. Although cell phone use has “skyrocketed,” Karipidis said “there has been no rise in the incidence of brain cancers.”

Karipidis works for the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency and was part of a group of researchers commissioned by the World Health Organization. The researchers reviewed more than 5,000 studies, ultimately focusing on 63 published between 1994 and 2022.

It was the largest review of data from research about exposure to radio waves and wireless technology to date.