On the heels of press reports that the British government soon will require mobile phones to carry health warnings, a Swedish team of medical investigators released findings from a new study that resurrects concerns about links between brain tumors and cellular phones.
In the report, “Case Control Study on Radiological Work, Medical X-Ray Investigations and Use of Cellular Telephones as Risk Factors for Brain Tumors,” a statistical analysis indicated an increase in associated risk for brain tumors in the temporal, temporoparietal and occipital lobes of the brain that received the highest doses of microwaves. Medscape General Medicine, an online medical journal, posted the report.
The study also found that all but one of the 13 people with malignant or benign tumors within the exposed areas of the brain relied on older analog phones, which have greater power output.
Nine of the 13 cases were exposed to Nordic Mobile Telephone frequencies, three were exposed to both NMT and Global System for Mobile communications frequencies and one was exposed to GSM frequencies only.
“The study reaffirms that this issue requires further investigation, in spite of recent reports downplaying the association between cell-phone use and brain tumors, and the lower-power output associated with newer digital phones,” said Dr. George D. Lundberg, editor-in-chief of MedGenMed. “With the proliferation of cell phones-and the fact that many older, higher-power output phones are still in use-it is important to adequately assess the risks in larger, ongoing studies.”
The study, supported by grants from Cancer-och Allergifonden, the Swedish Medical Research Council and Orebro Cancer Fund, evaluated 233 patient cases with verified brain tumors. MedGenMed said the statistical analysis was based on answers from 209 cases and 425 controls.
Just days before the Swedish report went public, a British government committee said it will issue warnings that children using mobile telephones are at greater risk from radiation than adults, according to the Daily Express newspaper in London.
Children are more susceptible to the radiation because their skulls are thinner and their cell growth and brain-wave activity are still unstable, said the report, scheduled to be released Thursday.
The committee also will recommend mobile phones carry warnings that would tell users to be careful about where and for how long they use their mobile phone. Former chief scientist to the Cabinet Office William Stewart chairs the 12-member committee, which according to Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association spokesman Jeffrey Nelson, has been notoriously silent about their findings.
“For individual countries to be doing their own research in a vacuum would not be the right way to go,” Nelson said.
In the United States, there is ongoing and controversial debate about the effects of radio-frequency radiation on the body and especially the brain. Dr. George Carlo last year completed industry-funded research that for the most part had negative results, but some research came back with positive findings that suggested mobile-phone use may have an effect on human health.
Just weeks ago, Carlo launched the Radiation Protection Project. The $60 million project will solicit information from consumers who believe they have mobile-phone-radiation-related injuries and also oversee laboratory and epidemilogy studies.
“The industry is so damn arrogant it thinks the issue is theirs. This is bigger than the wireless industry. It’s a societal issue,” Carlo said.
Carlo’s findings, if indicative of mobile-phone health risk, could be used to support any future class-action legal action by Baltimore lawyer Peter Angelos or others. Carlo has been working with Angelos to raise money for continued mobile-phone cancer research.
Government involvement, much like that in Britain, is needed in the United States to objectively research mobile phone-related health issues, Carlo said.
“It seems there’s enough confusing information out there that Congress needs to step in,” said Carlo.
CTIA is working with the Food and Drug Administration to repeat two of Carlo’s previous experiments that found possible links between mobile phones and diseases like cancer and leukemia.
“No one study can provide a definitive answer. Preliminary data has to be evaluated with other lab studies, biological data and epidemiology studies. CTIA and the FDA have entered into a collaborative agreement that should begin shortly,” said CTIA’s Nelson. “The science will tell us what needs to be done.”
The Posts and Telecommunications Ministry in Japan also announced last week it will conduct a two-year study in Tokyo and Osaka to see whether a causal relationship can be found between electromagnetic waves emitted by mobile phones and brain tumors, reported the Asahi Shimbun in Tokyo.
Beginning in September, the study will be conducted on behalf of research being organized by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization.
The ministry believes it can reach a conclusion by 2004, the report said.
RCR Washington Bureau Chief Jeffrey Silva contributed to this report.
