http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theoneshow/onepassions/2008/10/are-mobile-phones-safe.html#dnaacs


Is this programme supposed to be serious or a joke? If serious then either budget cuts must have allowed for little time to do any proper research or this is just more spin put out by the BBC in the wake of the reports mainly in the print media on the latest research showing a 5 times increased risk of brain tumours for mobile phone users who started under 20 years old, ie children.

To quote from a meta analysis of ALL the brain tumour research to that point (2007)

http://oem.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/64/9/626

We conclude that results from present studies on use of mobile phones for =10 years give a consistent pattern of an increased risk for acoustic neuroma and glioma. The risk is highest for ipsilateral exposure.

The Danish study had many methodological errors as detailed below.

It is always interesting to see which sections of the media choose to report the findings of which studies. It is easy to see which side they are on! People are left to have to do the research for themselves.
.........

'The Danish cohort study on mobile phone subscribers was updated with follow-up through 2002 for cancer incidence. As previously, 200 000 (32%) company subscribers were excluded and apparently instead included in the population-based comparison group. The expected numbers were based on the general population. However, a large part of the population does use mobile phones and/or cordless phones, the latter use not assessed at all in the study. There was no truly unexposed group for comparison. Of the subscribers, 85% were men and 15% were women, thus giving a very skewed sex distribution.

There seemed to be a "healthy worker" effect in the study, as SIR was significantly decreased to 0.95 (95% CI 0.9 to 0.97) for all cancers. In the group with >=10 years since first subscription, significantly decreased SIR of 0.7 (0.4 to 0.95) was found for brain and nervous system tumours indicating methodological problems in the study. Temporal glioma yielded SIR = 1.2 (0.9 to 1.6). This finding was based on 54 people. No latency data were given or laterality of phone use in relation to tumour localisation in the brain.'



Research: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17148772

Powerwatch Criticism:
http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/news/20061206_danish_phones_cancer.asp


- Graham


From Mast Sanity/Mast Network



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=danish+phone+cancer
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=brain+tumour
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=glioma
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=acoustic+neuroma
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Hardell
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Schüz

Pak J Biol Sci. 2008 Apr 15;11(8):1142-6.
Mercury release from dental amalgam restorations after magnetic resonance imaging and following mobile phone use.
Mortazavi SM, Daiee E, Yazdi A, Khiabani K, Kavousi A, Vazirinejad R, Behnejad B, Ghasemi M, Mood MB.

Department of Medical Physics, School of Paramedical Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.

In the 1st phase of this study, thirty patients were investigated. Five milliliter stimulated saliva was collected just before and after MRI. The magnetic flux density was 0.23 T and the duration of exposure of patients to magnetic field was 30 minutes. In the 2nd phase, fourteen female healthy University students who had not used mobile phones before the study and did not have any previous amalgam restorations were investigated. Dental amalgam restoration was performed for all 14 students. Their urine samples were collected before amalgam restoration and at days 1, 2, 3 and 4 after restoration. The mean +/- SD saliva Hg concentrations of the patients before and after MRI were 8.6 +/- 3.0 and 11.3 +/- 5.3 microg L(-1), respectively (p < 0.01). A statistical significant (p < 0.05) higher concentration was observed in the students used mobile phone. The mean +/- SE urinary Hg concentrations of the students who used mobile phones were 2.43 +/- 0.25, 2.71 +/- 0.27, 3.79 +/- 0.25, 4.8 +/- 0.27 and 4.5 +/- 0.32 microg L(-1) before the amalgam restoration and at days 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Whereas the respective Hg concentrations in the controls, were 2.07 +/- 0.22, 2.34 +/- 0.30, 2.51 +/- 0.25, 2.66 +/- 0.24 and 2.76 +/- 0.32 microg L(-1). It appears that MRI and microwave radiation emitted from mobile phones significantly release mercury from dental amalgam restoration. Further research is needed to clarify whether other common sources of electromagnetic field exposure may cause alterations in dental amalgam and accelerate the release of mercury.

PMID: 18819554 [PubMed - in process]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18819554?dopt=AbstractPlus


Informant: Dorothee Krien

See also: http://groups.google.com/group/mobilfunk_newsletter/t/21c3008dd9ea721

--------

From: Olle Johansson
To: Martin Weatherall
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 6:55 AM
Subject: Re: Mercury release from dental amalgam restorations after magnetic resonance imaging and following mobile phone use.

This is extremely interesting and completely in line with the fundamental studies by the Swedish team of Per Högstedt and Thomas Örtendahl!

Ortendahl TW, Hogstedt P, Holland RP, "Mercury vapor release from dental amalgam in vitro caused by magnetic fields generated by CRT's and electrical cutting procedures", Swed Dent J 1991, p 31, abstract 22

I have tried for years and years to get money to repeat their studies and to expand them to mobile phone use - so I am very happy to see it finally to get momentum!

Olle Johansson, assoc. prof.
The Experimental Dermatology Unit
Department of Neuroscience
Karolinska Institute
171 77 Stockholm
Sweden
&
Professor
The Royal Institute of Technology
100 44 Stockholm
Sweden

 

http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=electromagnetic
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=microwave
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=mercury
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=amalgam
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mercury
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=amalgam
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Johansson
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Ortendahl
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Hogstedt