Mobile brain cancer link raises questions
Tuesday June 14th, 2011
Some mobile phone addicts may face an increased risk of developing brain cancer, according to the findings of a major international studies published today.
The
risk may be increased by up to three times for long-term users, according
to the analysis of more than a thousand cases of cancer.
The findings, reported today in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, seem to fly in the face of assurances that mobile phones are safe.
The researchers, led by Professor Elisabeth Cardis, of the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), Barcelona, Spain, say their results remain "uncertain" - and more studies are needed.
They come from an analysis of people involved in an international study involving Australia, Canada, France, Israel and New Zealand - known as Interphone.
The researchers compared 553 people with a cancer known as glioma and another 676 with a cancer known as meningioma with more than 3,500 healthy people.
They found no evidence that simply being a mobile phone user increased risk of brain cancer - and possibly even a reduction of risk for meningioma.
But when they picked out long-term users, who had had a mobile phone for longer than a decade, and analysed the risk of developing glioma in the areas of the brain closest to the ear, the risk increased massively to nearly three times.
Professor Cardis said the doubts about the significance of the results mean it is too early to blame phone use for brain cancer.
* A second study, led by Professor Cardis, in the same journal says it is possible to identify which areas of the brain are most exposed to radiation from mobile phone use - but this will vary with the communication system.
Occupational and Environmental Medicine June 14 2011 doi 10.1136/oemed-2011-100055, doi 10.1136/oemed-2011-100065
Tags: Australia | Brain & Neurology | Cancer | Europe | General Health | North America
Printer friendly page