Providence doctor talks about cell phones and brain cancer risk - Fox 2 News Headlines

Singer Sheryl Crow is the petite woman with the big voice, who has won multiple Grammy awards and sold millions of albums.  Crow is a powerhouse, but back in May in Florida she forgot the lyrics to one of her most popular songs.

Publicly, Crow claimed turning 50 caused the forgetfulness, but privately she worried about early signs of dementia.  Doctors would later discover Crow, in fact, had a benign brain tumor.

Called a meningioma, it develops from the lining in the brain and spinal cord.  About 80 percent of meningiomas are benign or non-cancerous.  The cause isn't know, but just recently in an interview, Crow said she blames her cell phone.

Crow admits doctors don't back up her theory.  However, we wanted to know more about the effects of radio frequency on the brain, so we went to a Providence Hospital cancer expert.

"Radio frequency energy in cell phones and portable phones is very low, and when you're talking about cancer, you're talking about damage to the DNA," said Dr. Michael Kraut. "There's very little evidence that the low energy in cellular phones could possibly damage DNA in the brain to the extent that... would cause a cancer."

In fact, Kraut believes something else we do with our cell phone is far riskier than talking on it.

"You're far more likely to be killed by texting while driving than you are from a brain tumor."

What about kids?  According to the National Cancer Institute, they have the potential to be at greater risk as their nervous systems are still developing, but at this point data from clinical studies in children do not show a greater risk of brain tumors with cell phone use.