Cell Phones and
Cancer: A Study's Muddled Findings
Cell Tower
Life Bluetube Headsets
Cell Phone Towers Health Effects
EM Field Meter
Cell Phone Sensitivity
It has become one of the most controversial questions in
cancer medicine: Can using a cell phone cause brain tumors?
The federal government and the mobile-phone industry have
maintained that there is no conclusive data to support a
link between cell-phone radiation and cancer, but a growing
band of scientists are skeptical, suggesting that the
evidence that does exist is enough to raise a warning for
consumers — before mass harm is done.
What scientists and regulators need is truly conclusive
scientific evidence. Enter Interphone, a $24 million
long-term study that matched rates of brain cancer with
cell-phone use among more than 12,000 participants
(including 7,400 who developed tumors) in 13 countries. The
long-awaited report — whose findings were finally released
on Monday after years of delay — is by far the most
comprehensive look at the issue to date, and was designed to
provide the final word on the debate.
Unfortunately, the results turned out to be anything but
clear. The study, which will be published this week in the
International Journal of Epidemiology, found that, overall,
there is no clear connection between cell-phone use and
brain cancer. "An increased risk of brain cancer is not
established from the data from Interphone," says Dr.
Christopher Wild, director of the International Agency for
Research on Cancer, which helped coordinate the study.
But upon closer inspection, the results were checkered: the
10% of people who used their phones most often and for the
longest period of time — 30 minutes a day or more on average
for at least 10 years — had a substantially higher risk of
developing some form of brain cancer than those who didn't
use a mobile phone at all. Meanwhile, people who used their
cell phones infrequently had a lower risk of developing some
brain tumors than those who exclusively used corded
telephones — as if mobile phones in small doses might offer
some protection from brain cancer.
The mobile-phone industry was quick to trumpet Interphone's
most basic results. The overall finding "is in accordance
with the large body of existing research and many expert
reviews that consistently conclude there is no established
health risk from radio signals that comply with
international safety recommendations," said Jack Rowley,
director of research and sustainability for the GSM
Association, which represents hundreds of mobile-phone
makers and operators, in a statement.
But consumer advocates, who have in the past raised concerns
about the safety of mobile phones, counter that the study
did find cancer risks for heavy users. More troubling than
that, they say, are the apparent methodological problems in
the study itself. The fact that all but the heaviest users
of cell phones had a smaller risk of developing a brain
tumor than those who never used a mobile phone at all almost
certainly demonstrates a flaw in the study design. If there
had been a true zero risk from mobile-phone use, a
well-designed study would have shown no difference in
brain-cancer rates between cell-phone users and nonusers.
"Bias stands as the most likely explanation of the observed
results," wrote epidemiologists Rodolfo Saracci and Jonathan
Samet in an editorial accompanying the study.
Further, if cell-phone use posed no increased risk of brain
cancer, it doesn't logically follow that heavy users would
have a 40% higher incidence of glioma (a certain form of
brain tumor) than the control group, as the study found. And
it's worth keeping in mind that "heavy" users as defined by
Interphone — 30 minutes of cell-phone use a day — are not
what we might consider heavy today: average use is now 21
minutes per day. (Interphone's heavy user would require 900
cell-phone minutes a month — the midlevel usage category for
AT&T wireless plans.)
Importantly, the study — the results of which are now 5½
years old — does not take into account the impact of
mobile-phone use in children, whose skulls are thinner than
adults, and who may be more sensitive to cell-phone
radiation. Nor does it include any data on U.S. users.
Of course, the study doesn't make a conclusive argument that
cell phones cause brain cancer, either. Indeed, there's no
scientific agreement on how cell-phone radiation might even
biologically cause a tumor. (Mobile-phone radiation is
nonionizing, unlike carcinogenic X-rays.) Instead of
offering clear answers, Interphone just raises more
questions. "Further investigation of mobile-phone use and
brain-cancer risk is merited," says Wild. That's one thing
the mobile-phone industry and its opponents can agree on.
Peru, Lima
Italy, Rome
India, New Delhi
Viet Nam, Hanoi
El Salvador, San Salvador
China, Beijing
Cotonou (de facto capital)
Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Broken Hill, Australia
Congo (Brazzaville), Brazzaville
http://www.emfnews.org/store |