Long mobile phone use raises brain tumor risk
http://www.care2.com/news/go/67867
From Iris Atzmon:
Is your newspaper afraid of this (real) story?
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/1776047/
Swedish researchers find link between cell phones and brain tumors
3/31/2006 12:02:08 PM,
by Nate Anderson
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060331-6502.html
Be afraid. Be very afraid. That’s the message from the Swedish National Institute for Working Life, which has just completed a massive study on the cancer risks from cell phone use. Their results, which appear in the International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health (one of my favorite sources of light reading), suggests that heavy cell phone users do in fact raise their risk for tumors, especially on the side of the head they use most often.
The study looked at 2,200 cancer patients and the same number of healthy ones to see if any sort of connection could be drawn between specific cancers and heavy mobile phone usage. The answer was yes.
Kjell Mild, who led the study, said the figures meant that heavy users of mobile phones had a 240 percent increased risk of a malignant tumor on the side of the head the phone is used.
Now, before you reach behind your right ear and start probing yourself for lumps, there are a couple of things to remember. The first is that a 240 percent increase, while significant, still means that the chance of coming down with a tumor is rather low. The second thing is that “heavy usage” of cell phones is defined by the study as anything above 2,000 hours of use, which works out to one hour a day, every day, for almost six years. That’s a lot of talking—but certainly not beyond the range of modern road warriors.
The study’s authors suggest, as usual, that the best way to reduce your risk (short of ditching your phone altogether) is to use a hands-free system. One wonders, though, whether buying a headset and then shoving the phone in your pocket isn’t likely to cause other, ahem, problems of equal severity.
It’s also worth pointing out that research on the link between cancer and mobile phones is ambiguous. A recent British study found no such link only a few months ago, though a 2004 study came to the opposite conclusion. The Swedish team points out that their study is the largest done to date, though, so it may carry more authority than the rest.
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=425
Study: Tumor Risk from Cell Phones
http://www.betanews.com/article/Study_Tumor_Risk_from_Cell_Phones/1143823783
By Nate Mook, BetaNews March 31, 2006, 11:49 AM
Researchers at the Swedish National Institute for Working Life issued a report this week disputing two earlier studies that claimed cell phone use has no correlation to increased brain tumor risk. The Swedish study found that long-term mobile phone exposure could raise the chance of developing cancer.
In January, a four-year study performed by the London-based Institute of Cancer Research and three British universities found that talking on a cell phone had no effect on tumor rates. That research included 966 people with glioma brain tumors and 1,716 healthy respondents. Individuals were questioned on first use, lifetime years of use, cumulative hours of use, and number of calls they made.
However, the new Swedish study is the biggest yet to cover long-term mobile phone usage, including 2,200 cancer patients and an equal number of healthy individuals. It found that a tenth of those with a malignant brain tumor were also heavy phone users — logging 2,000 hours or more of total talk time. The number correlates to about 10 years of phone activity.
“Of these 905 cases, 85 were so-called high users of mobile phones, that is they began early to use mobile and/or wireless telephones and used them a lot,” the study’s authors said.
The study also reported a higher risk of a tumor on the side of the head where the phone is held. Overall, the report suggested a 240 percent increased risk of a malignant tumor on this part of the head. Other factors, such as smoking habits and working history were taken into consideration as well.
The Swedish researchers did have one recommendation for people looking to cut down on any potential cancer risk from cell phones: use a headset.
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=426
--------
Media coverage on the new study
Yediot Ahronot (the most distributed newspaper in Israel, p. 14, on 1/3 page) and the radio interviewed Dr. Sigal Sadezki (Israeli INTERPHONE representative) about the new study from Sweden. It is expected to see her interviewed about it also in the evening news today on TV stations.
A study: long phone conversations cause cancer
by Rivka Freilich
Yediot Ahronot 2.4.06
Speaking on the cell phone or cordless phone during 1 hour a day, for several years, raises the risk for brain cancer in 240% . This is what a big study done at the university hospital in Orbero Sweden shows. The study was done during the years 1997-2003 and checked the cell phone use among 2200 cancer patients and among a similar number of controls. Among the cancer patients, at the age of 20-80, 905 had malignant brain tumors and one tenth of them were heavy users of cell or cordless phones. "This is the biggest study done ever" said prof Lennart Hardell who led the project. The study clearly showed that the danger to get a brain tumor is higher at the same part of the brain where you out the phone during the conversation. He expressed confidence that the study would bring a wave of criticism: 'It is always like this when the results point to a direction in contrast to powerful economic interests".
Dr. Sigal Sadezki said that "this is the scientific study with the most severe results that were received until now about the link between cellular phones use and malignant brain tumors". According to her, although there were doubts about the scientific results of this researcher in the past, the current study went through a check according to all the scientific rules, and there is a need to relate to his conclusions. "Until today, most studies didn't find a significant connection between conversation hours and malignant tumors" explains Dr. Sadezki. We're talking about a study which found that users above 2000 hours suffered more from malignant tumors in relation to people who didn't use cell phone. "We have to remember that we are still in an era of uncertainty with regard to the health effects of the cellular radiation, and this is because not enough time has passed yet since the start of use with this technology. That's the reason we should not lighten the results of this study. There's a need to use speakers, ear pieces, and to minimize putting it close to the head".
On the radio, very brief summary: Dr. Sigal Sadezki was asked by the interviewer to detail the results of the new Swedish study, and she did it, she emphasized these are malignant tumors, she detailed the levels of the risk for users, but the first thing she insisted doing is to separate the Swedish study from the INTERPHONE, she emphasized on the radio, that the Swedish study is not the bottom line study of the subject, but the INTERPHONE will be much larger and more important, and we should all wait for it (another two months, she promised. She promised the same amount of time also one year ago, btw). And she also emphasized that also the INTERPHONE will not give the final results, that we need to wait 30 more years in order to get the final results, the INTERPHONE results will refelect, according to her, the picture that we have until now.
Naturally, the media coverage attracted a lot of interest in the public, and at the bottom line, the message is passed: the results were passed to the public, and Dr. Sigal Sadezki herself helped them to get through, which is very nice indeed for someone who represents the cellular companies.
Informant: Iris Atzmon
--------
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/hardell_study_march_2006.pdf
Informant: Eileen O'Connor
From Iris Atzmon:
Is your newspaper afraid of this (real) story?
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/1776047/
Swedish researchers find link between cell phones and brain tumors
3/31/2006 12:02:08 PM,
by Nate Anderson
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060331-6502.html
Be afraid. Be very afraid. That’s the message from the Swedish National Institute for Working Life, which has just completed a massive study on the cancer risks from cell phone use. Their results, which appear in the International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health (one of my favorite sources of light reading), suggests that heavy cell phone users do in fact raise their risk for tumors, especially on the side of the head they use most often.
The study looked at 2,200 cancer patients and the same number of healthy ones to see if any sort of connection could be drawn between specific cancers and heavy mobile phone usage. The answer was yes.
Kjell Mild, who led the study, said the figures meant that heavy users of mobile phones had a 240 percent increased risk of a malignant tumor on the side of the head the phone is used.
Now, before you reach behind your right ear and start probing yourself for lumps, there are a couple of things to remember. The first is that a 240 percent increase, while significant, still means that the chance of coming down with a tumor is rather low. The second thing is that “heavy usage” of cell phones is defined by the study as anything above 2,000 hours of use, which works out to one hour a day, every day, for almost six years. That’s a lot of talking—but certainly not beyond the range of modern road warriors.
The study’s authors suggest, as usual, that the best way to reduce your risk (short of ditching your phone altogether) is to use a hands-free system. One wonders, though, whether buying a headset and then shoving the phone in your pocket isn’t likely to cause other, ahem, problems of equal severity.
It’s also worth pointing out that research on the link between cancer and mobile phones is ambiguous. A recent British study found no such link only a few months ago, though a 2004 study came to the opposite conclusion. The Swedish team points out that their study is the largest done to date, though, so it may carry more authority than the rest.
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=425
Study: Tumor Risk from Cell Phones
http://www.betanews.com/article/Study_Tumor_Risk_from_Cell_Phones/1143823783
By Nate Mook, BetaNews March 31, 2006, 11:49 AM
Researchers at the Swedish National Institute for Working Life issued a report this week disputing two earlier studies that claimed cell phone use has no correlation to increased brain tumor risk. The Swedish study found that long-term mobile phone exposure could raise the chance of developing cancer.
In January, a four-year study performed by the London-based Institute of Cancer Research and three British universities found that talking on a cell phone had no effect on tumor rates. That research included 966 people with glioma brain tumors and 1,716 healthy respondents. Individuals were questioned on first use, lifetime years of use, cumulative hours of use, and number of calls they made.
However, the new Swedish study is the biggest yet to cover long-term mobile phone usage, including 2,200 cancer patients and an equal number of healthy individuals. It found that a tenth of those with a malignant brain tumor were also heavy phone users — logging 2,000 hours or more of total talk time. The number correlates to about 10 years of phone activity.
“Of these 905 cases, 85 were so-called high users of mobile phones, that is they began early to use mobile and/or wireless telephones and used them a lot,” the study’s authors said.
The study also reported a higher risk of a tumor on the side of the head where the phone is held. Overall, the report suggested a 240 percent increased risk of a malignant tumor on this part of the head. Other factors, such as smoking habits and working history were taken into consideration as well.
The Swedish researchers did have one recommendation for people looking to cut down on any potential cancer risk from cell phones: use a headset.
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=426
--------
Media coverage on the new study
Yediot Ahronot (the most distributed newspaper in Israel, p. 14, on 1/3 page) and the radio interviewed Dr. Sigal Sadezki (Israeli INTERPHONE representative) about the new study from Sweden. It is expected to see her interviewed about it also in the evening news today on TV stations.
A study: long phone conversations cause cancer
by Rivka Freilich
Yediot Ahronot 2.4.06
Speaking on the cell phone or cordless phone during 1 hour a day, for several years, raises the risk for brain cancer in 240% . This is what a big study done at the university hospital in Orbero Sweden shows. The study was done during the years 1997-2003 and checked the cell phone use among 2200 cancer patients and among a similar number of controls. Among the cancer patients, at the age of 20-80, 905 had malignant brain tumors and one tenth of them were heavy users of cell or cordless phones. "This is the biggest study done ever" said prof Lennart Hardell who led the project. The study clearly showed that the danger to get a brain tumor is higher at the same part of the brain where you out the phone during the conversation. He expressed confidence that the study would bring a wave of criticism: 'It is always like this when the results point to a direction in contrast to powerful economic interests".
Dr. Sigal Sadezki said that "this is the scientific study with the most severe results that were received until now about the link between cellular phones use and malignant brain tumors". According to her, although there were doubts about the scientific results of this researcher in the past, the current study went through a check according to all the scientific rules, and there is a need to relate to his conclusions. "Until today, most studies didn't find a significant connection between conversation hours and malignant tumors" explains Dr. Sadezki. We're talking about a study which found that users above 2000 hours suffered more from malignant tumors in relation to people who didn't use cell phone. "We have to remember that we are still in an era of uncertainty with regard to the health effects of the cellular radiation, and this is because not enough time has passed yet since the start of use with this technology. That's the reason we should not lighten the results of this study. There's a need to use speakers, ear pieces, and to minimize putting it close to the head".
On the radio, very brief summary: Dr. Sigal Sadezki was asked by the interviewer to detail the results of the new Swedish study, and she did it, she emphasized these are malignant tumors, she detailed the levels of the risk for users, but the first thing she insisted doing is to separate the Swedish study from the INTERPHONE, she emphasized on the radio, that the Swedish study is not the bottom line study of the subject, but the INTERPHONE will be much larger and more important, and we should all wait for it (another two months, she promised. She promised the same amount of time also one year ago, btw). And she also emphasized that also the INTERPHONE will not give the final results, that we need to wait 30 more years in order to get the final results, the INTERPHONE results will refelect, according to her, the picture that we have until now.
Naturally, the media coverage attracted a lot of interest in the public, and at the bottom line, the message is passed: the results were passed to the public, and Dr. Sigal Sadezki herself helped them to get through, which is very nice indeed for someone who represents the cellular companies.
Informant: Iris Atzmon
--------
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/hardell_study_march_2006.pdf
Informant: Eileen O'Connor
Starmail - 31. Mär, 19:24
