Today, the thought of thumb cancer does not seem plausible. When brought up to doctors, they simply say that thumb cancer cannot be a threat because it does not exist. Before the addition of cigarettes to nearly every convenience store, lung cancer was a rarity within humans. To hear of someone having been ailed of lung cancer was incredibly infrequent. It wasn’t until decades after the production of cigarettes that doctors began to link the act of smoking with the diagnosis of lung cancer. What is so widely accepted as a harmful carcinogen today had not been considered a cancer agent years ago.

While smart phones have become instrumental to the lives of many, their harmful effects are often swept under the rug, as they do not pose an immediate concern. Not only does apple not warn its consumer of hazards, but the health app tracks your activity, mindfulness, nutrition, sleep, and far more. Apple wants its consumers to believe that their products are beneficial to their health, when really iPhones could be the leading carcinogen towards the future generation.

Science today is far more advanced than when it was at the establishment of the tobacco industry. Therefore, there are already studies on the carcinogenic effects of smartphones. SAR (specific absorption rate) is the measure of the rate at which energy is absorbed by the human body. The legal limit set for smart phones is 1.6. Apple iPhones come incredibly close to this limit--with iPhone 6s ringing in at a SAR of 1.14 at normal activity. When brought up to high activity (e.g. Bluetooth, wifi, and many apps open) the SAR rises to 1.58. (x) The SAR of phones can rise when in a car since the metal body can reflect radiation, therefore building up a greater amount of radiation in a specific location. There are apps that track the amount of radiation your phone is emitting and suggest how to lower it, yet the app store has not showed any interest in featuring these apps on its market.

It is not impossible for cellphones to lower their SARs. In fact, the Verykool Vortex RS90 (a touch screen smart phone) only has a SAR of .18, leading in one of the lowest SARs among smart phones. Following behind is the Samsung Galaxy Note with a SAR of .2 (keep in mind that most Samsung phones are far higher in SAR).

Smartphones have not been around long enough to allow radiation to affect DNA in longitudinal studies, yet research proves it likely that thumb cancer could very well be underway as the cancer of today’s generation. Unfortunately, cellphones play a predominant role in our culture, so if you own one it is unlikely you will cease to use it any time soon--much like those addicted to cigarettes.