WASHINGTON-A new study published in the British Medical Journal failed to find a cancer link from mobile-phone use for up to 10 years, saying only additional research will be able to address longer latency periods for the development of brain tumors in adults.
“Overall, we found no raised risk of glioma associated with regular mobile-phone use and no association with time since first use, lifetime years of use, cumulative hours of use or number of calls,” the study stated.
The study, partially funded by global mobile-phone manufacturers and wireless carriers in the United Kingdom, was conducted by researchers at several universities and the Institute of Cancer Research in the United Kingdom. The study is part of the larger international Interphone wireless health research project.
Between 2000 and 2004, the researchers interviewed 966 individuals diagnosed with gliomas and 1,716 other individuals in five regions of the United Kingdom.
“Our results are consistent with findings from investigations of mobile-phone use in the U.S., Denmark and Sweden, though some studies have found isolated positive associations for particular variables,” scientists said. The newly published case-control study included a finding among individuals who reported using the mobile phone on the same side of the head as the location of the tumor. But researchers dismissed the finding as likely faulty due to recall bias.
Powerwatch, a watchdog group in the United Kingdom, slammed the study.
“It is very disappointing that these well-respected scientists can draw such badly justified conclusions from their research,” said Alasdair Philips, director of Powerwatch. “Had this study limited its conclusions to the results found from the available cases, and commented that no conclusions can be drawn about the cause of approximately half of all gliomas, the study would have been fine. As it is, it presents a highly misleading overall picture, and may make it harder to get funding to look into causes of high grade gliomas, about which there is still little known. One can only hope that the conclusions are down to an incompetent misrepresentation as opposed to a more sinister motivation.”
The new data comes as mobile-phone carriers in the United States face health-related lawsuits in various state courts.
