Americans are as divided in their views of the potential tumor risk from using cell phones as are medical researchers themselves.

The research is far from conclusive which helps to explain why new Rasmussen Reports polling finds that 50% of adults are concerned that use of a cell phone may lead to brain tumors as one new study suggests. But the other 50% are not concerned.

Seventeen percent (17%) are very concerned about the tumor risk from cell phone usage, while 16% are not at all concerned.

Still, in order to reduce the chances of brain tumors, 53% say they are at least somewhat likely to find ways to use a cell phone other than holding it next to their heads. Twenty-one percent (21%) say they are very likely to do so.

Forty-one percent (41%) are more unlikely to change their cell phone habits, with 27% not very likely to stop using their phones next to their heads and 14% not at all likely to change.

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Fifty-four percent (54%) of women are concerned that cell phone usage may lead to brain tumors, compared to 44% of men. Twenty-four percent (24%) of women are very likely to find ways to use their phone other than next to their head, but just 19% of men say the same.

Americans ages 18 to 29 are slightly less worried about the risk of tumors than adults who are older. Those 30 to 39 are the most likely to say they will change how they use their phones.

But then just 38% of all Americans say they have followed recent news reports about a medical study regarding cell phone users at least somewhat closely, with 12% following very closely. Thirty-eight percent (38%) have not followed stories about the study very closely, and another 21% haven’t followed them at all.

Only 33% of adults believe people should be allowed to talk on a cell phone while driving. Fifty-nine percent (59%) say they should not be able to use their cell phones while behind the wheel. Ninety-one percent (91%) say people should not be allowed to text message on a cell phone while driving.

That’s because 86% say texting while driving is much more dangerous than talking on a cell phone in the same situation.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of Americans say it is rude for someone sitting next to you in public to be talking on their cell phone, but 37% say this is not rude behavior. Even more adults (63%) believe it is rude for someone to text message during a social event, although 28% disagree.

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