The use of cell phone and insight into its potential human health impacts Ki-Hyun Kim & Ehsanul Kabir & Shamin Ara Jahan Received: 27 February 2016 /Accepted: 3 March 2016 # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 Abstract The rapid evolution of mobile phone tech- nology has raised public concern about its possible association with adverse health effects. Given the huge number of mobile phone users at present days, even simple adverse health effects could have major implications. This article reviews the present knowl- edge concerning the health effects stemming from the use of cellular phones by emphasizing adverse biological effects, epidemiological issues, and indi- rect health effects. A line of epidemiological evi- dence suggests that there is no concrete association between mobile phone radiation and cancer. The evidence regarding the occurrence of cancer due to exposure to the radio frequency energy of mobile phones is nonetheless conflicting. Consequently, long-term research in this field is necessary to ac- count for the vital issue of this scientific research to the public in a meaningful way. Keywords Mobile phones . Health effects . Radio frequency energy . Cancer Introduction In the present world, the cell or mobile phone has become an essential part of our daily life to keep in touch with family, friends, and others and to perform various other tasks. Mobile phones are the only option available for communication in some parts of the world. Mobile phones have become more reliable as a means of communication as they allow people to maintain con- stant and continuous communication even when roaming. Apart from voice communication, mobile phones also support a wide range of other services such as text messaging, email/internet access, video commu- nication, gaming, song listening, photography, and movie watching. Nowadays, any smartphone can act as a miniature version of a computer. In addition, mobile phone has been helpful to save thousands of lives through the communications made during personal or natural emergencies. According to the International Telecommunications Union (IUT), mobile phone sub- scriptions have reached around 6.8 billion by 2013 (ITU 2013). Cell phones use electromagnetic waves through radio frequency (RF) and microwave signals provided by mobile phone operators to activate its services (Uddin and Ferdous 2010; Singh and Kapoor 2014). Cell phones are known to emit RF energy, non- ionizing electromagnetic energy composed of waves of electric and magnetic fields (Sage and Carpenter 2009). It Environ Monit Assess (2016) 188:221 DOI 10.1007/s10661-016-5227-1 K.<H. Kim (*) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea e-mail: kkim61@hanyang.ac.kr K.-H. Kim e-mail: kkim61@nate.com E. Kabir Department of Farm, Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh S. A. Jahan BRAC Clinic, Rayerbazar, Dhaka 2202, Bangladesh