Focusing on potential links between cancer and cell phone use has been the U.S. Senate Health Committee’s priority as of late. They are concerned about the similarities to the lung cancer-cigarette connection that was denied for decades.

Tom Harkin, Iowa senator and head of the committee, has expressed his concern about the fact that no one has been able to prove that cell phones do not cause cancer. He has stated that he is reminded by this country’s experience with cigarettes, which had a similar beginning. It took years between the first warnings of the dangers of smoking, and the final conclusion that cigarettes cause cancer.

Icell-phone-cancert is common knowledge among researchers that low levels of radiation can cause cancers of the brain and central nervous system, much like what a cellphone can emit. It can present itself as a malignant brain tumor, which coincidentally was the cause of death for the former head of committee, Senator Edward Kennedy.

Considering an estimated 4 billion people worldwide, 275 million people in the U.S., use cellphones, this is a serious matter. Danish researchers studied statistics on the subject four years ago. Comparing cell phone usage with brain tumor patients. Last year, researchers in Norway and France reported similar results.