Research report: mobile phones do not cause cancer
New research information released today by the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) says that mobile phone use does not cause cancer in humans - not during the first ten years of use anyway. The new data is an excerpt of findings from a much longer and more detailed report on the subject that is due to be published in 2006.
Today's release includes data on more than 4,000 people from five European countries; Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the UK. The report concludes that a decade of consistent mobile phone usage does not increase the risk of an individual suffering a cancerous tumour in the nerves connecting the ear to the brain. It also states that there is no connection between the incidence of an acoustic neuroma and the number of years a mobile handset has been used.
The study included 678 people with acoustic neuromas and 3.553 people without this benign form of cancer and the evidence derived from the data obtained shows that neither the time since first use of a mobile phone nor the total hours of usage have any deleterious effect on human health.
It also concludes that there is no link between acoustic nerve tumours the type of handset used (analogue or digital) or whether or not people use hands-free equipment.
That's the good news. There is however a caveat. The ICR scientists say that while, on balance, there is no substantive risk of acoustic neuroma in the first ten years of usage of a mobile handset, they cannot yet rule out the possibility that risk might be increased in the longer term.
Anthony Swerdlow one of the scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research says, "The results of our study suggest there is no substantial risk in the first decade after starting use. Whether there are longer-term risks remains unknown, reflecting the fact that this is a relatively recent technology."
In the past, other studies have concluded that the electromagnetic radiation emitted by mobile phones may, under some circumstances, have some effect on human physiology, especially in producing 'hot spots' in brain in the area behind the ears.
Mobile phone manufacturers and network operators have always maintained that mobile handsets do not cause illness and say there is no conclusive evidence that electromagnetic radiation at the levels emitted by handsets has any effects on the human body. The new data from the ICR supports those contentions.
05.09.05
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