New study: no link between mobiles and tumours

London Telegraph
Jan. 20, 2006

*Microwave radiation is safe!* Go back to sleep america!

Cell Phone RadiationThe largest study completed so far on mobile phone use and brain tumours has concluded that there is no link between the two.

But the researchers stressed that mobile phones have only been in widespread use for about 10 years, and the long-term effects were still unknown.

The idea that using a mobile phone was linked to an increased risk of brain tumours was suggested last year in a Swedish study by Professor Lennart Hardell.

This appears to have been disproved by the latest study, published online in the British Medical Journal, which involved 966 people with glioma - the most common type of brain tumour - and 1,716 healthy volunteers.

The two groups were interviewed about their use of mobile phones in the past, such as how long they had used them, how often they made calls and for how long, and on which side of their head they held the phone.

The researchers, from the Universities of Leeds, Nottingham and Manchester and the Institute of Cancer Research in London, found that those who regularly used mobile phones were not at a greater overall risk of developing glioma.

The team also found no link between using a mobile phone in rural areas and an increased risk of tumours.

However, the latest study did find a significant increased risk between the side of the head where people said they held the phone and where their tumour occurred.

They said the finding was probably due to people who had a tumour linking their phone use to the side of their head where the tumour was found, making them more likely to report using the mobile on the same side.

Professor Anthony Swerdlow, head of epidemiology at the Institute of Cancer, said that although no link had emerged, it was difficult to assess what the long-term risks might be to children in particular.

"There are extremely few children who have used mobile phones for long enough to have data on whether brain tumours may be increased by mobile use," Professor Swerdlow said.

Health experts last year expressed concern at the launch of the Teddyfone, a mobile aimed at children as young as four.

29 November 2005: Teddy bear mobile 'puts 4-year-olds at risk from radiation'
17 May 2005: Tumour risk for rural mobile users