Is Your Bra a “No Phone Zone”?

Are you one of the 40% of college females who has taken to the practice of storing their cell phone in their bra?  What about one of the 3% who report doing it more than 10 hours a day?  You’re in luck, two enterprising college students have invented the JoeyBra.  This bra features a side pocket big enough to hold your phone.

But – is this really a good idea?  What about the whole cell phone next to the skin causes cancer thing?

To date there is no scientific evidence proving or disproving a correlation between cell phones and cancer.  The technology is just too new for there to have been sufficient long term studies.  It could actually take as long as 20 to 30 years to accumulate and study the clinical cases where the cell phone is suspect.

Some doctors, however, say that they are seeing evidence of breast cancer that could be connected to the storage of cell phones in the bra.  Both Donna Jaynes, 38, and Tiffany Frantz, 21, were diagnosed with breast cancer. Neither had genetic or family risk factors, but both were in the habit of storing their cell phone in their bra.   The locations of their tumors were relative to where they stored their phone.

Should you declare your bra a “No Phone Zone”?  That’s up to you, but keep in mind that phone manufacturers do provide a recommendation for safe storage in their documentation.  For the IPhone that safe distance is at least 5/8 of an inch away from the body.

Submitted by Tina Comston, M.Ed.

Reviewed by Mary Lynn Kiacz, M.D.