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May 18, 2010

Late yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) released some important data on the largest study to date on whether mobile phone utilization can cause a hightened risk of brain cancer, finding again the usual results that there is no increased risk of cancer.

However, the WHO did say that more research is still needed and that the study is ongoing.

Dr. Christopher Wild, director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer says "an increased risk of brain cancer has not established from the data we've seen so far. But observations at the highest level of cumulative call time and the changing patterns of cell phone use since the period studied by Interphone, particularly in younger people, mean that further investigation of cell phone use and brain cancer risk is still warranted for now."

The Interphone Study Group published medical results of the analyses of brain tumor risk for glioma and meningioma related to mobile phone utilization.

The study, which included 2,708 glioma cases and 2,409 meningioma cases, was conducted in thirteen countries over a 10-year span.

“The Interphone study will continue with additional analysis of cell phone use and tumors of the acoustic nerve and parotid gland," said Professor Elisabeth Cardis, who was the principal investigator at IARC, and now is at the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) in Barcelona, Spain.

She added "and because of concerns about the rapid increase in mobile phone use in young people who were not covered by Interphone, CREAL is thus co-ordinating a new project, MobiKids, funded by the European Union, to better investigate the risk of brain tumors from cell phone use in childhood and adolescence.”

“As with any study, scientific organizations from around the world will review the Interphone study in the context of the significant body of research and published literature on the safety of mobile phones. CTIA and the wireless industry support continuing efforts of public health specialists and expert scientists in this area,” said John Walls, CTIA vice president of Public Affairs.

He added "all mobile phones and smartphones sold in the United States must fully comply with the FCC's radio frequency (RF) exposure standards which are designed to include a substantial margin of safety for wireless users."

"Overall, numerous industry experts in the U.S. and government health and safety organizations around the world have reviewed the existing database of studies and ongoing research and concluded that RF products meeting established safety guidelines pose no known health risk."

For its part, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) also said yesterday that available scientific evidence today shows no increased health risk due to the relatively low levels of RF energy emitted by modern mobile phones or even smartphones.

Despite the large increase in mobile phone utilization today, occurrences of brain cancer didn't increase between 1987 and 2005, the FDA said. It also added that Bluetooth devices even emit much lower levels of radio frequency energy and should be a preferred device, especially since they are hands-free and represent less of a security risk for drivers of private or public vehicles.

Although some of the data suggested an increased risk for people with the heaviest use of mobile phones, and similar to the WHO's recommendations, the FDA study did also determine that biases and errors limit the strength of conclusions that can be drawn from it.

But the increased use of cell phones today is tempered by the lower emissions, on average, from newer technology mobile phones and smartphones, and, to a lesser extent, to the increased use of text messaging and hands-free operations that keep the phones away from the heads of their users.

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Source: The World Health Organization.