Reports linking mobiles to cancer cause confusion: Part 2

Although, Hardell was forced to admit that no research is completely reliable with regards to the potential long term effects of mobile usage because of the relative immaturity of the technologies usage on a mass level.

Patricia McKinney, professor of paediatric epidemiology at Leeds Institute of Genetics, Health and Therapeutics, and researcher on the Cancer Research report published in January agreed. ''We had a number of people that had used phones for over ten years in our research, but the number was too small to be of any significance,'' she said.

Mike Clark, spokesman for the Health Protection Agency, also commented on one problem with retrospective studies being that of recall bias. This is a phenomenon where subjects afflicted with brain tumours unconsciously associate their condition with mobile phone use and link it with usage on one particular side of the head.

''No research should be dismissed,'' said Clark, ''it's likely we would see some effects after ten years of usage but we have not seen anything that points to a serious risk as yet.''

A number of experts we spoke too identified the Interphone Study, which is anticipated to be published later this year, as the largest and most definitive research on the health risks of mobile phones.

The Interphone study, which is funded by the European Union and the International Union against Cancer (UICC), will involve research carried out in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the UK.


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