|
|
Cell Phone Tumor Link Found?
Stockholm, Sweden
October 14, 2004
Matt Moore, Associated Press
A Swedish study suggests that people who use a cell phone for at
least 10 years might increase their risk of developing a rare benign
tumor along a nerve on the side of the head where they hold the
phone.
In an interview with The Associated Press, one of the researchers
behind the preliminary study, Anders Ahlbom, said the results were
surprising and more research is needed.
Several previous studies have investigated whether the use of cell
phones is linked to an increased risk of brain tumors. Although
experiments have shown radiation from cell phones can affect brain
cells in a lab, more relevant studies on people have found no
evidence that the phones pose a health risk. However, experts have
said that because children's brains are developing, it may not be a
good idea for youngsters to use the phones for long periods.
 The
three-year study by Ahlbom and Maria Feychting, professors at the
Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, focused on 750 Swedes who had
used cell phones for at least 10 years. It was published in the
International Journal of Epidemiology. In the study, researchers
questioned 150 patients already diagnosed with acoustic neuroma, a
benign tumor on the auditory nerve that takes several years to grow
before being diagnosed, and 600 who did not have it, about their
cell phone use. All 750 subjects had been using cell phones
for at least 10 years, nearly all early analog models that emit more
electromagnetic radiation than the digital models now on the market.
Digital phones emit radiation in pulses; the older analog varieties
emit continuous waves. Since cell phones exploded in popularity in
the late 1990s, most of those sold used digital technology.
"At the time the study was conducted, only analog ell phones had
been in use for more than 10 years and therefore we cannot determine
if the results are confined to use of analog phones or if the
results would be similar after long-term use of digital phones," the
report said.
The risk of developing a tumor was almost double for those who
started to use phones before their diagnosis. In addition, the tumor
risk was almost four times higher on the side of the head where the
phone was held, Ahlbom and Feychting said.
Retrospective questionnaires are not considered the most accurate
method of determining a link between behavior and disease. Many
links that emerge from such studies turn out not to be true under
more rigorous study.
Acoustic neuroma tumors, which can affect hearing, occur in less
than one adult per 100,000 people annually. The tumor pushes on the
surface of the brain, but doesn't grow into the brain itself,
according to the Atlanta-based Acoustic Neuroma Association.
The study was funded by the European Union and is part of the wider
Interphone study coordinated by the International Agency for
Research on Cancer.
Previous studies, including one by Finnish scientists in 2002, found
that electromagnetic radiation emitted by phones can affect brain
tissue, but others have said that's not the case.
The wireless industry has always maintained there is no link between
ell phones and cancer. The Wireless Association in Washington, D.C.,
a trade group representing American cell phone manufacturers, urged
more research. "The wireless industry agrees that more research is
needed in this area to provide definitive answers to any questions
that might still exist," it said in a statement Wednesday. Ahlbom
conceded more research was needed, adding the study was not an
excuse to avoid using cell phones. "You could say also, of course,
if that someone is concerned about these results the easy way to
avoid any risk is to use a hands-free set," he said.
|
|
